


a change of story

by chirithy (sylleblossum)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Acxa & Keith (Voltron) are Siblings, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Adoptive Siblings, Krolia is not the best mom, M/M, Slow Burn, im rewriting s7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-06-26 03:41:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15655038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sylleblossum/pseuds/chirithy
Summary: Yeah, how about a retelling of Season 7, because we were done dirty and we deserved better.Keith is nicer, Allura is recovering from Lotor's betrayal, Lance is figuring himself out with Shiro's help, Adam loves his disaster gay fiancee and his fiancee's chaotic gay little brother, and space finds out Earth can defend itself.Chapter One is kinda Episode One but giving more of Shiro and Adam's relationship, Adam's character, and Keith's life with the two.*DISCONTINUED*





	1. Chapter 1

Hunk and Lance helped Keith and Coran load the healing pod into the Black Lion, with Allura and Pidge trailing behind them. Lance glanced at Keith, and was taken aback by how small Keith looked; hunching in on himself, cradling his arms around his stomach, and his eyes slightly haunted as he watched Allura run diagnoses. Lance felt a push against his leg, and found the blue wolf that Keith brought with him had just pushed past Lance to go to their owner.

The screen dimmed and Allura looked over at Keith.

“His body seems to fine, just tired and worn out from whatever happened between you two. The only thing I am worried about is that his body might reject Shiro’s soul,” The haunted look on Keith’s face got worse, and Lance found himself taking another step closer to the boy. Keith was now just looking at Shiro, and his voice came out as almost a whisper.

“Is there anything we can do?” Everyone was now looking at Allura, who was looking just as lost as them.

“We just to hope for his recovery, and try to get the lions back online,” Keith nodded, seeming to agree with that, but he still looked so far away. His blue wolf was making a whining sound, and leaning against Keith. It reminded Lance of his own dog at home, Laika, who used to do the same thing when either he or his siblings were having bad days. He really missed that dog, and could use a cuddle from her right now.

Coran was saying something about finding some sort of energy source that could be located on the planet they landed on, but Lance wasn’t sure he wanted to Keith and Allura alone, even with apparently Keith’s mother. Not with how vulnerable both Keith and Allura could be at this moment.

Lance looked over at the group waiting for him, but he shook his head.

“I think I’m going to stay here. Krolia is going to keep watch of the lions but I’m going to check on them, and maybe set up camp. Be careful out there, okay?” Hunk and Pidge looked a little surprised, but Coran was smiling and quickly agreed. He, then, proceeded to tell Lance where he could find certain things to get set up in the various lions. Lance thanked him and waved the group goodbye, and got to work.

Lance noticed that Krolia was circling around the camp, keeping watch, a blaster and blade at her side. But, he ignored her as she ignored him as they did their own tasks. Lance got a small campfire going soon after, and set to get tents and sleeping bags from the Black Lion. However, he hesitated when he noticed Allura sitting in the jaw. She still held the tablet that was connected to Shiro’s pod. Lance decided to crouch in front of her.

“Hey,” He tried to say as gently as he could, but she still jumped slightly. Allura looked at him, and Lance could tell she had tear marks, and it hurt his heart to see his friend like this. He pointed at the tablet.

“How is he doing?” Allura closed her eyes and sighed, before shaking her head.

“His status has been going up and down, but I’m afraid his body is on the verge of rejecting him. There’s nothing I can do for him at the moment,” Lance felt like he’d been kicked in the gut. They just got back the real Shiro and they might lose him forever, but he steeled himself from crying and motioned his head to the inside of the lion.

“And Keith?” Allura set the tablet down on the floor and hugged her knees to her chest.

“I told him what I just told you, and all he could say was ‘thank you’,” Allura looked towards the inside of the lion as well. Lance sighed and stood back up, before he made his way into the Black Lion’s cargo hold.

The healing pod was in the same place it had been placed, but now Keith and his wolf was sitting and leaning against it. Keith had his knees hugged to his chest, and his face against his knees, the wolf was curled into a ball against their owner. A single golden eye opened and glanced at Lance, but slowly closed after a moment of inspection. Lance saw the box of sleeping bags and moved them closer to the entryway, before he made his way over to Keith. He sat down right next to him, not close enough to touch, but close enough to be felt. They sat in silence until Keith sighed and pulled his face away from his knees; he wouldn’t look at Lance, but Lance could tell Keith had been crying.

“I guess Allura told you,” Keith’s voice was rough of use, making Lance grimace. But, he quickly gave the affirmative. Lance watched as Keith began to run a hand back and forth on the wolf, who leaned into the touch.

“I’m going to lose him again, and this time it’s going to be for real. I don’t know what to do, Lance,” Lance was thrown through a loop with what Keith said, because he didn’t know how to respond. He spared a glance over his shoulder at the sleeping man, before looking back at Keith.

“Remember him. I know it’s going to hurt with what I’m about to say, but Keith. When you lost him the first couple times, you had to deal with the struggle of the unknown, of what really happened to him. But, if you lose him here, that unknown is gone. You will know that he will go surrounded by family and love, he will leave knowing that he was loved and that he wouldn't be in pain anymore, and no more unknowns for him,” Lance glanced over at Keith after he was done talking, and found that the other boy had started to cry again. Lance quickly slung an arm around Keith’s shoulder, bringing him into a half hug.

“I don’t want to lose him again, Lance. He saved me so many times before, I thought that now that I had saved him everything would be done,” Lance didn’t actually know the relationship between Shiro and Keith was; he had known that Shiro had been Keith’s mentor and been the only one to get him to calm down and smile back at the Garrison.

“You won’t lose him completely. Yes, he would be gone, but like I said, remember him and he would always be with you. You know everyone else is going to do the same to keep him with us. But, you probably have the most memories of him out of all of us,” Keith rubbed at his eyes, cleaning away some of the tears. He had a small smile on his face.

“Yeah, probably,” Keith glanced up now at Shiro, and the smile turned sad again.

“Did I ever tell you all how I met him?” Keith asked, now looking back at Lance, who shook his head. Keith got comfortable again against the healing pod, a hand in his wolf’s fur, before he began his story.

XXXX

Keith still remember the first time he met Takashi Shirogane. He had only been 12, and had been in the foster system for three years. He was jaded and cynical against the world, because they always looked down on him, called him trouble. He had only been at this school for a couple months now, and his foster family was tiring of him, he didn’t have long until he’d be moved again; it didn’t help that the kids at his school called him names and ignored at every moment. Even the teachers ignored him and he would hear them gossip about the lost cause charity case that he was. Hearing that always threw Keith into a rage. He had punched a locker the first time he heard it, and it was just written off as an angry outburst, but never questioned him why.

When his teacher announced that they were having a free day because of a special guest, Keith immediately tuned out and looked out the window. He didn’t even look away when the so-called special guest was brought into the room, but he could hear the most of the conversation; something about a space exploration school. It sounded kind of cool to Keith, but he knew he had no chance.

Soon, the class was being lead outside to some sort of pod device, which the guest claimed was a portable simulation pod, and could be used to see who could pass the school’s tests. Keith had been immediately pushed to the back of the group, as everyone tried to go first. When Keith noticed that James was sneering at him from over his shoulder, Keith just rolled his eyes and went to sit on the ground a little away from the pod. He could hear the class go through the sim, but apparently no one could get past the second level, even James, which brought some joy to Keith. It wasn’t until the guest had patted him on the shoulder, with a smile on his face.

“How about you give it a go?” Keith raised an eyebrow at him, and the guest gestured his head towards the sim pod. Not really knowing how to respond, Keith stood up and walked into the sim pod, ignoring the snickers and name-calling as he walked past his classmates. Keith gave a quick glance at the control, and they reminded him of his dad’s speeder, so maybe it worked the same way. So Keith sat down.

His classmates soon fell silent as he began to soar through the levels, making it to level 5, farther than any of them had done. He heard the guest talk to the teacher about being impressed by him, and a rush of cold went through him when his teacher began to talk down about Keith, and tried instead to send James in his place to the space school. Then, he heard the words ‘charity case’ and Keith was done. He quickly got out of the sim, not caring about the failure and ran past the guest, but not without snatching the car keys that wear just hanging off his belt.

And soon Keith found himself racing off, leaving his class in the dust in a stolen car. He felt completely free up until the moment he was pulled over by the cops.

The next couple hours ran by and Keith didn’t seem to care. His foster agent had been called in, and apparently his foster family didn’t want to him to come home anymore; his foster agent had brought his small amount of things with him (only a backpack and a small suitcase; neither had been unpacked). His foster agent berated him, yelling at him for being a lost cause. The man only stopped talking when an officer came in to tell them that the charges had been dropped, and that a Takashi Shirogane would like to talk to Keith. Keith stuck his tongue out at his foster agent as he was walked out of the room and lead to a room further down the hall. The guest that had been at the school sat there, looking at information on a tablet. He looked up as the officer and Keith walked in, he gave Keith a grin and thanked the cop and asked for the room. Keith decided to sit across from him. Once the door closed, the man turned to look at Keith.

“I don’t think we officially met. I am Takashi Shirogane, and I’m a pilot and instructor at the Galaxy Garrison,”

“I’m Keith,” Shirogane had grinned at his answer, before pushing something on the tablet and moving it across the table. It held Keith’s record, and other information.

“I know. It’s nice to meet you, Keith Sung,” Keith grimaced at the sound of his full name, and apparently that made Shirogane chuckle.

“Now, before the incident with my car, you were actually quite close to beating a record on that sim pod. And that was impressive, not many people even get close,” Keith raised an eyebrow at him. Shirogane pulled a card out of his jacket pocket that said Galaxy Garrison on it.

“I think you have what it takes to make it through the cadet program at this school. It’ll be challenging and will be frustrating at times, do you think you can handle it?” Keith picked up the card to stare at it for a moment, before putting it back on the table. Shirogane looked slightly disappointed.

“It’s not that I don’t think I can make it through your program and all. It’s just…my foster family just gave me up and I’m headed back to the group home. There’s no way they’ll approve of me going, I’m just another lost cause after all,” Shirogane frowned at that and then glanced outside to the hall. Keith looked as well, and saw his foster agent standing there, talking on the phone. He looked pissed. Keith looked away, holding his gaze on the card that was given to him. He didn’t even look up when he heard Shirogane’s chair move.

“I’ll be back in one moment,” Keith didn’t even give him a reply, he simply grabbed the card, looking it over once more. The school was apparently in Plaht City, which was actually his hometown, a place Keith always wanted to go back to. Of course, it was too much to be true. He lifted his shirt collar away from his neck, and pulled the chain around his neck from out of the shirt. It held a key and a black ring. It was the key to his childhood home; one of his pop’s friends had told him he’d take care of the house until he was old enough to have it as his. The ring was his father’s, the only thing they could recover of him; Keith wanted to wear it normally but it was still too big. He sighed, before he put the chain back under his shirt.

Keith glanced outside and found that Shirogane was talking with his foster agent, who looked slightly relieved. They talked for a couple more minutes before Shirogane made his way back to the room that Keith was in.

“So, Cadet Sung, welcome to the Galaxy Garrison,” Keith’s jaw fell open in shock and he couldn’t respond. Shirogane gave him a smile and crouched down so he was eye level with Keith.

“I think you deserve a chance, Keith. So I talked to Mr. Pollock, and well, I got to sign a couple papers, I can be your next foster family, if you wish it,” Keith didn’t know how to comprehend this, this Shirogane guy only spent less than 10 minutes with him and just impulsively decided to foster him and get him into an elite space academy. Keith wanted to start laughing because this sounded so bizarre, like a dream.

“Sure, why not,”

XXXX

“Did you ever figure out why Shiro decided to do all this?” Lance asked from next to Keith, but Keith only shook his head.

“He only told me he saw a bit of me in him. But, he made me his family. Him and Adam, both,” Keith froze after saying Adam’s name.

“Who’s Adam? You mean Instructor Adam Wakim?” Lance looked back over at Shiro, and then back at Keith.

“Wasn’t Instructor Wakim Shiro’s boyfriend? God, I was in his class when news of Kerberos came in, he was so wrecked. Me and Hunk helped walk him to the instructor office,” Keith flinched, he never forgot about Adam’s reaction to Shiro’s disappearance, and the days after. More tears came to his eyes as he thought of the other man he considered family. Keith felt Lance nudge his shoulder gently, pulling him from his thoughts.

“Tell me more. Tell me about the Shiro no one really knew,” Keith gave him a small smile, wiping away his tears, before he petted his wolf more.

“He was a complete disaster,”

XXXX

As Shirogane drove Keith and his meager belongings to his onsite apartment, Keith could hear Shirogane mutter about someone named Adam who was apparently going to kill him. Keith wanted to ask who Adam was, but he was still sort of in shock that Shirogane agreed to foster him so quickly. They soon parked in front of an apartment building, Keith could see his future academy across a field. Shirogane had grabbed Keith’s suitcase, and let Keith hold his backpack.

Keith was ushered into the building and into an elevator, going up a couple floors. Shirogane was fidget nervously with his fingers until the doors opened to their floor. Shirogane motioned for Keith to follow, and they walked to apartment 3E; Shirogane quickly unlocked the door and let Keith in. Keith watched as Shirogane took his shoes off at the mat next to the door, and placed them next to a similar pair, and decided to follow his lead, leaving his own sneakers next to Shirogane’s. Shirogane was looking back and smiling at him in front of another door, but soon the door opened, a delicious smell hit Keith’s nose, making his stomach growl loudly. Keith covered it, but he knew Shirogane had heard because the older man laughed.

“Yeah, his food always makes my stomach do the same when I smell it. Come on,” Keith followed Shirogane in the main part of the apartment. He could hear someone humming, sizzling noises, and plates being placed. Soon a voice rang out from the kitchen, making Keith hide behind Shirogane.

“Takashi, is that you?” Keith saw that Shirogane was looking at him for a moment, before he answered the voice.

“Yeah, I’m home,” Footsteps were soon heard coming out of the kitchen, but Keith didn’t move from behind Shirogane.

“Why were you gone so long? And what’s with the suitcase?” Keith decided to peek through Shirogane’s elbow, and he found himself looking at a dark skinned man with light brown hair and glasses. He was dressed in baggy comfortable-looking clothes, the complete opposite of Shirogane’s uniform, so he must be off-duty if he worked with the Garrison. The man was now looking at Keith, and he raised an eyebrow at him; Keith quickly hid behind Shirogane again.

“Takashi, may I ask why there’s a child behind you? I know the Garrison sent you to recruit new cadets, but I don’t think they gave you permission to steal one,” Shirogane let out a snort, before stepping from in front of Keith, bringing the boy into view. Keith decided his socks were the most interesting thing in the world right then and there and just stared at them.

“This is Keith Sung, a new cadet for the Garrison. It’s an interesting story actually,” Shirogane sounded like he was going to continue talking, but a timer started going off in the kitchen. Adam disappeared back into the kitchen, and delicious smells developed more, making Keith’s stomach growl more. Keith held back the urge to stomp on Shirogane’s foot as the older man laughed at him again.

“Come on, let’s eat and talk to Adam,” Keith followed Shirogane into the kitchen, and was shooed away to go sit at the table. He watched as Adam hipchecked Shirogane away from stealing something out of the one of the pots, making the man pout. Soon, Adam grabbed another plate out of the cabinet and loaded all of the plates with food. Shirogane grabbed two of the plates and walked towards the table; he placed one in front of Keith and one in front of himself as he sat down. Adam brought his own plate but didn’t sit yet.

“What would you like to drink, Keith? We’ve got a little of everything: soda, water, juice, milk, iced tea,” Adam grabbed a three glasses out of a different cabinet, filling one with water, another with a red juice, but one remained empty, waiting for Keith’s response.

“Water, please,” Adam gave him a smile before he poured the water and closed the fridge. He placed the waters in front of Shirogane and Keith, but kept the red juice for himself. Shirogane grabbed Adam’s hand, squeezing it for a couple seconds before letting go, all the while, a soft smile on his face.

“Now though I’m a much better cook than Sir Burnsalot right here,” Adam pointed at Shirogane, who let out an upset ‘hey’ and pouted.

“I’m not the best, so I hope meatloaf and mashed potatoes are okay with you?” Adam grinned at him again, and Keith looked at the plate in front of him. The potatoes actually looked real and not the instant stuff the home used, the meatloaf was cut a bit weird, large on one end and small on the other, but it looked done and juicy covered in a brown sauce.

“It looks good,” Adam thanked him, and the three started to eat. Keith was definitely dreaming, because it was so delicious and way better than anything he’s been given at the foster homes. He tried to pace himself and let it last, but it didn’t feel like long before his plate was empty. Adam looked up from his own meal to look at him, glancing at the empty plate.

“It was really good,” That earned Keith another happy grin from the man. Adam stood up and grabbed his own plate, before reaching to grab Keith’s.

“Would you like more?” Keith smiled brightly and nodded

XX

After dinner, Keith found himself sitting in a recliner chair across from the couch that Shirogane and Adam were currently sitting on. Adam looked in between Keith and Shirogane.

“So, what’s the story?” Keith looked at Shirogane, before he answered Adam.

“I stole his car and he decided I’d be a good recruit,” Shirogane let out a loud laugh, while Adam’s eyes widened in shock, not really telling if Keith was joking. Shirogane patted Adam’s knee, and started to tell the real story. Adam seemed to relax during the story, and grinned over at Keith when it became apparently true that he had stolen Shirogane’s car.

When Shirogane was done talking, his watch began to beep on his wrist and he grimaced. Adam rubbed his shoulder, and helped him stand up.

“We’ll be right back, Keith,” Adam said as he led Shirogane back to the kitchen. Keith, as quietly as he could, got off the chair and stood outside the kitchen entryway to listen in.

“He’s an interesting kid,” He heard Adam say, there was a rustle of a pill bottle, before Shirogane answered back.

“Yeah, he is. He reminded me a little of myself that age. He was close to beating the high score on the sim, if he had continued,” Keith raised an eyebrow at that. Adam had sighed.

“But, Takashi, the next semester for the first cadets doesn’t start for another couple months,” There was silence for a moment before Shirogane answered.

“I know, but it’s going to be summer break for regular school kids soon, so he should be fine for now,” There was another sigh.

“Takashi, be serious for a moment. It was good of you to agree to foster Keith, your big heart is something I love about you, but you know we don’t have the room. This is a one bedroom apartment, and I don’t think his foster agent would be happy to learn that Keith would only be sleeping on a couch when he comes to inspect us,” Another sigh but this time from Shirogane.

“I know. But, I couldn’t just let him go and disappear, I really think he could do great at the Garrison. I have some savings in the bank, maybe we could look for housing elsewhere,”

“Takashi, you know how expensive Plaht City is, we’d never find an apartment that cheap and close enough to the Garrison,” Keith’s eyes widened, he might have a solution to their problem. He decided to step into the kitchen, and coughed to get both Adam’s and Shirogane’s attention.

“Keith, were you listening?” Keith nodded to answer Shirogane’s question. He looked like he was about to say something else, but Keith cut him off.

“I could help,” Shirogane and Adam looked confused at that.

“After my pop died, he gave our house to one of his friend’s in the will. The friend said I could have the house back when I came to age…Maybe, he could let us live there. I was born here in Plaht City, and I think the house is just outside the city,” Adam and Shirogane looked at each other in slight shock, before looking back to Keith.

“Are you sure?” Keith shrugged his shoulders.

“You helped me out, so can’t I help y’all? Also, I kinda miss my home,” Shirogane smiled at that, before looking back at Adam, who was smiling softly as well.

“Well?” Shirogane questioned Adam.

“It could work, who was your pop’s friend?”

XX

It took a couple days to get in touch with his pop’s friend, but the man had quickly agreed to let the trio come live in Keith’s childhood home, even offered to help move them in. And after a couple weeks, Keith found himself living once more in his home. He took up residence in his old room, while Shiro and Adam took the master bedroom.

After a week of living together, Shiro and Adam sat him down and explained their relationship to him. They were boyfriends and very much in love; the only thing that Keith was shocked about was that it was okay if he didn’t like girls. Shiro and Adam looked so happy at Keith’s acceptance of their relationship.

It was awkward the first couple weeks because they were learning about each other. Keith found that Shiro didn’t like being called Shirogane unless it was one of the commanders on base, but really only Adam called him Takashi, so Keith agreed to call him Shiro. Keith, then, learned that Shiro was not a morning person and really could not cook to save his life. He burned toast to the point of ash, and can actually burn coffee somehow. Keith and Adam both agreed that Shiro was not allowed in the kitchen without supervision.

Keith learned that Adam’s full name was Adam Wakim and he was of Palestinian descent. He was also a flight instructor at the Garrison. Adam was more of a morning person than Keith and Shiro combined, but could be found napping in random places; Keith once found him asleep on the front porch, still dressed from work. Adam, also, liked to cook, even if he claimed he wasn’t good at it; he started to teach Keith some simple things and let him help make meals.

Adam and Shiro learned that Keith had sensory issues. He hated loud unexpected noises, certain food textures, and different types of fabrics. They helped him as much as they could to accommodate his issues, and Keith appreciated them making the effort because no one at the foster homes ever did. They, also, learned that he loved sour candies, loved to read and draw, and knew all the hiding spots of his childhood home.

After a month and a half of living together, Keith really felt like he was part of a family. They knew that he had anger issues and were actually able to calm him down, and get him to talk about what had upset him. Adam loved to teach Keith new things like cooking or computer building. Shiro found his pop’s speeder in the garage, and instantly got himself one so he could teach Keith how to drive it and take care of it. Keith felt so content with his life at the moment.

XX

Soon, it was time to start at the Garrison, and to Keith’s dislike, he found that James from his old school had also been accepted. Keith decided to ignore James’s sneers anytime the other boy looked at him. Keith wasn’t really good with being told what to do, and found himself bored with the way the classes were run. They felt so slow.

He had gotten into a fight with James after one of the training exercises, because the boy had claimed Keith was only there because of Shiro, and then started to make fun of his orphan status. Keith had seen red, and instantly punched him. It wasn’t long before Keith found himself in the commander’s office, sitting next to James. James had, of course, claimed that Keith had started it, but Shiro had interjected. And the two boys only landed in separate detentions.

Shiro had gotten Keith ice cream and let Keith tell him what James had said. Shiro had been proud of Keith for standing up for himself, but disappointed that he had started a fight. Adam only cared that Shiro didn’t invite him to get ice cream as well, and ruffled Keith’s hair as Shiro ran out the door to get Adam some as well.

Shiro and Adam both told him to be patient with the Garrison’s program; they had felt the same when they started out as well. They told him to take it one day at a time, and that patience was a good asset. Keith started to follow their advice and began to do very well in the program.

XX

After two years of living with Adam and Shiro, Keith noticed that they never really got into arguments. Sometimes, they would annoy each other and take a break, but be fine later on. But, when word about the Kerberos mission came out, Keith hadn’t been expecting what had happened.

Keith had been happy for Shiro to apply as the pilot for the Kerberos mission, and was going to do everything in his power to be on it. But, then Adam came out with the truth.

Shiro was sick. And if he took the mission to Kerberos, he would only get worse. The mission was years long, and apparently Shiro only had a couple years left until he’d succumb to the illness. Keith was torn; he wanted Shiro to go on this mission to achieve his dreams, but he also didn’t want to lose Shiro. Keith decided to let Adam and Shiro talk it out some, and went to go sit on the front porch.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, but soon Adam came outside and sat next to Keith. He had sighed deeply and just looked up at the sky.

“He won’t change his mind. He’s getting Commander Holt to agree with his placement on the mission,” Keith leaned against Adam’s side in comfort.

“I’m going to leave for a bit. I just need a break…but I’ll come back to you, ok, Keith?” Keith nodded and Adam pulled him into a hug. An hour later, Keith and Shiro were waving Adam off. Shiro had looked so heartbroken.

“Give him time,” Keith had said, making Shiro look at him.

“Me and him both want you to have your dream, but it hurts because we might lose you in the process,” Shiro had pulled Keith into a hug after that, and apologized.

Keith learned that once Shiro left on the Kerberos mission, Adam would become his foster parent, which relieved Keith. He didn’t want to lose his place in the Garrison, and definitely didn’t want to leave Adam by himself.

XX

The morning of the Kerberos launch, Keith found Adam crying in the living room. He sat next to him, and tried to comfort him as much as he could, but soon Keith found himself crying as well. It didn’t take long for Shiro to come down and find them like this. He had hugged them both and kept apologizing over and over. Keith watched as his guardians shared a sad, tear-filled kiss.

Soon, it was time to head over to the launching site. Keith stood a bit behind Adam, as Shiro introduced them to the Holts. He decided to shock Keith by introducing him as Shiro’s little brother, smiling as he said it. Keith smiled to himself as well; he liked the sound of being Shiro’s brother, being Shiro’s family.

XX

Keith was 16 when it was announced that the Kerberos mission had failed. When he heard Iverson claim that it was all Shiro’s fault, and blamed Shiro’s illness under his breath, he couldn’t stop himself from throwing the punch. He was quickly expelled, escorted off the grounds, and found himself walking home without waiting for Adam. He didn’t let himself cry until he got home. When Adam got home, his heart broke even more; Adam looked devastated. They curled up next to each other on the couch, and just let the tears flow.

After a couple hours, Adam was the one who broke the silence.

“I don’t think it was because of pilot error,”

XXXX

“So, wait, Adam was the one that led you to investigating Shiro’s disappearance?” Keith nodded at Lance’s question.

“How did you come to be in that shack in the desert?”

“It was also my pop’s. Apparently, it was his hunting shack. Adam helped me get it set up with a generator, and got me everything I needed to investigate. He kept me informed on what was going on at the Garrison. He didn’t even think I was crazy when I started telling him about the energy calling out to me in the desert,” Lance let out a short laugh.

“Wow, Instructor Wakim is more of a badass than I thought,” Keith snorted at that.

“You should see him when he’s sleep deprived. He would cry about kittens being too good for the world,” Keith smiled to himself, thinking about Adam. Adam had been in the medical tent that held Shiro when he landed back on Earth; he had immediately told Keith about what landed and what to do, and even gave Keith permission to throw a punch at him to get Shiro out of there. But, Keith never sent out a message to him before disappearing into the Blue Lion. So Adam had lost Shiro a second time, and lost Keith as well.

Keith and Lance were startled out of their thoughts as Shiro’s healing pod made urgent noises and Allura came rushing in. Apparently, Shiro’s body had made a decision. Keith didn’t care that he was now openly crying in front of his friends, he banged on the glass of the healing pod, and yelled at Shiro.

“You stubborn ass. You can’t do this me, you can’t do this to Adam again. Please let me take you home, Shiro!!!” Soon, the noises died down and stabilized. Allura looked incredibly confused, as a moment later, the pod opened up and Shiro woke up. Lance and Keith helped Shiro sit up, and noticed the older man had a sad smile on his face.

“I was dreaming…it was a really good dream,” Keith pulled his brother into a hug, Shiro hugged him back. Lance turned as the rest of the group came running in, and became ecstatic to see Shiro awake again.

Hunk and Coran told them about what had happened when they were gone, and caused Shiro to laugh at their antics. He leaned into Keith’s chest, still tired.

“It’s good to be back,”


	2. Chapter 2

Lance had jumpstarted the diagnoses of the Lions for Pidge and Hunk, and was able to save them time in doing so. Apparently, it would take a long while for them to be at 100%, but give them a day, and they would at least be able to leave the planet and begin their journey towards home. Pidge tried to send messages to anyone in the Coalition all throughout the night, but she believed that the planet’s atmosphere was interfering with everything.

Eventually, night began to fall and they decided to rest. They were still battered and tired from their battle with Lotor, and were completely drained. Coran and Krolia agreed to take watch shifts and allow the paladins to rest. They each fell asleep in a matter of minutes.

Coran had sat against the Red Lion, watching the horizon, but every couple minutes taking a moment to check on his charges. With how much was thrown at them constantly, it was sometimes hard to remember that they were still quite young. This break and this journey to Earth could be the break that everyone absolutely needed.

Time seemed to go by, and soon the paladins were awakened by the sunrise shining into their faces. Everyone, save Shiro, played their part in breaking down the camp and getting ready to set off. But, soon arose a problem, their addition passengers. The mice were small and weren’t really a problem, however they agreed Keith’s wolf shouldn’t go near Kaltenecker, just in case.

Romelle was a curious girl and was constantly asking questions about everything and anything she could think of, so it was decided to place her with someone who had enough patience and expertise to answer as many questions as he could: Hunk. Coran asked to stay with Allura, which was agreed upon; no one had the heart to separate the two Alteans from each other. To Lance’s surprise, Shiro asked to ride with him, but he shook himself out of the shock and agreed. Krolia, of course, stayed with Keith. Everyone seemed happy with the choices, except for Pidge.

“So I’m going to be on my own?” Everyone looked at each other, before looking back at Pidge. And then, Keith let out a short whistle, and nodded his head towards Pidge. In a burst of blue light and sparkles, Keith’s wolf appeared next to Pidge. The duo locked eyes with each other, both curious about the other.

“Kosmo can keep you company, if that’s okay with you?” Keith looked slightly bashful, but it made Pidge smiled.

“Thanks Keith,” She said, as she ran his hand through the wolf’s fur. It was incredibly soft and Pidge almost wanted to press her face in the fur. Kosmo was apparently loving the attention, because they began to lean into Pidge’s touch in hopes of more petting. Keith smiled at the sight.

Not long after, they set off in the direction Pidge believed Earth to be in.

XXXX

Lance found himself talking to Shiro, and learning more about the man he looked up to. He, even, got some stories about younger Keith that made the Cuban boy howl in laughter, while Keith came yelling over the intercoms, threatening bodily harm and death upon his older brother. That caused Shiro to retaliate with saying something along the lines of ‘you can’t kill what’s already been dead several times. I’m immortal now, brat’, which made Lance laugh even more. Shiro’s morbid humor was unexpected, but it made Lance see Shiro as more human than the hero he once looked up to. Before Keith switched off the comms from Lance, he looked at the boy and said,

“Well, you wanted to know the Shiro no one knew, and now you’re stuck with him,” Lance let out another laugh and waved Keith off, before turning back to Shiro for blackmail material on Keith.

As expected, Romelle was constantly throwing questions at Hunk, wanting to know everything she could about the lions and the universe she never got to see. Soon, the questions ended and Romelle and Hunk traded stories of their home planets; her telling both him and the occupants of the Blue Lion how Altean culture has evolved slightly throughout the years, and him trying to explain some of Earth culture to prepare her for their home planet.

Pidge was able to put the Green Lion on auto-pilot, and played her video game for some time, but after a little bit, Keith had called over to her, only to find her and Kosmo napping against each other.

XXXX

After couple hours of travel, Krolia’s voice rang through the intercoms, telling them that they were in the Klii-Nyn System and apparently there was a Blade of Mamora base not far from their location. She suggested that they could stop, gather supplies, and see about any updates on anything that happened while they were gone. Keith asked the team to vote on if it was okay to stop and it was unanimous, and soon they found themselves headed for the BoM base.

As they got closer to the base, Krolia tried many times to hail them but to no avail. It worried her and she told the team as much. But, the lions were landed anyway, and they set out to enter the base. Krolia led them to the entrance, but Allura was the one to force open the door, being the strongest. However, the base looked completely abandoned, as if it had been years since anyone had stepped foot in it. Pidge tried start the computer system, but nothing would happen. There was no power to the base at all. Hunk suggested that something really bad must had happened for the BoM to abandon the place. But, Krolia was still confused.

“This base was still operational when I last checked in with the Blade, and that wasn’t that long ago,” But, before they could question it anymore, explosions could be hear outside, and Coran called out to them through the comms.

“Incoming enemy ships!” With that, Keith ordered them back to the Lions.

It appeared to be a small fleet, and they thought it could be easy to take them out, but Pidge reminded them that the Lions were still not at full power. It was Romelle that pointed out that some of the ships looked like they were from Lotor’s fleet.

When they found that the Lions did not have enough power to form Voltron, the team decided that fleeing was better than attacking back, so the Lions would come to no harm. However, a couple minutes into them trying to leave, four ships were able to tether the Yellow Lion, but Keith quickly flew in to rescue the Samoan and use the Black Lion’s jawblade to break the tethers. Hunk yelled out a thank you as they tried to fly off again.

Pidge screamed out when her lion hit something invisible and it exploded, causing Coran to scan the area.

“Xanthorium crystals, they’ve been cloaked,” Coran called out just as Keith hit one, and had been blown back and immediately attacked by some of the fleet. Hunk was yelling out that the fighters were using new fighting methods and weapons that they’ve never had before. And Keith figured out that they were being chased into the maze of crystals and told his team as such, Pidge was quick to verify that it was true. They needed a plan and they needed one fast.

“We have no choice but to go through the upcoming cyclone. Hunk, you’re with me, we need to punch a hole into the storm and make a path for the team, okay?” Hunk agreed and sped up Yellow to go head to head with Black. They broke through, but the storm was too powerful, Lance telling them the Lions won’t be able to take much of it.

“Someone, scan the local area and find some place for us to get cover and get an advantage,” Keith yelled out, and Pidge quickly responded,

“There is a volcanic ice planet nearby. It has a various amount of dangerous obstacles that we can handle, it should work,” Pidge sent the coordinates to Black, and Keith led them out of the cyclone towards the planet.

They flew down into a canyon with still a bunch of Galra fighters on their tail. Keith yelled out for them to stay in formation with him, and lead them through the upcoming geysers. Several fighters were destroyed when they got caught unawares of the explosive water, but some were able to get some shots out and broke apart an overhanging ice feature.

Up ahead, Keith could see a cave directly in front of the group and he got an idea.

“Lance, bring up the rear. Everyone head for the cave. When everyone is inside the tunnel, fire above the cave opening. Red should be fast enough to get in before the avalanche blocks the way,”

“Roger that, team leader,” Lance yelled out as he made Red fall back and everyone else sped up. Lance watched as one by one his friends flew into the cave, and sent out a laser burst right above. As soon as the beam hit, Lance had Red racing forward, diving under the rocks and into the cave, just as it closed up.

A hand landed on Lance’s shoulder, making him jump in shock and look back. He had completely forgot that Shiro was in Red, and the older man was smiling down at him.

“Nice job, Lance,” Lance smirked, but before he could say anything, Red informed him of the couple fighters that had also gotten into the cave. He sped Red up some more, before informing the others on the intercoms.

“Heads up, we still got some tagalongs,” Keith had Black look ahead, and found a split path coming up.

“We’re going to split up, thin them out. Be careful everyone,” Black, Red and Green flew into one tunnel, while Yellow and Blue flew into the other. The path that Keith, Lance and Pidge went into split in two once more; Keith going by himself in one and Pidge and Lance going to the other. However, each Lion had about one to two fighters on their tails.

XX

Black told Keith that a cable was shot and was now connecting Black to the ship following them. He looked back at Krolia, who nodded. She threw on her helmet, and went out the top access panel. She was able to keep the fighter from breaking in, and Keith was able to fly Black in a way to get the fighter disconnected. Krolia was able to quickly get rid of the fighter, and knock them off of Black. Krolia headed back into the lion, before Keith made Black speed up in hopes of finding one of his teammates.

XX

Hunk wished Romelle wasn’t yelling into his ear, he understood she was scared, he was too, but he managed to tune her out enough to guide Yellow enough to keep out of the enemy ship’s lasers. But, he didn’t notice that the other ship had shot at the cave walls, causing an explosion, and he spun Yellow out of the blast radius.

“Romelle, hold on!!” Hunk shouted as he caused Yellow to land roughly onto the cave floor. He used the momentum to catapult himself out of Yellow and start firing at the fighter with his bayard. After a few seconds, Hunk watched as his bayard began to glow, and fired two giant lights into the wall. He saw two more yellow cannons form and begin firing at the same ship he was, and soon the enemy ship exploded. He stood wide-eyed, but started to smile at what he did.

XX

Allura only had one fighter on her tail, and she was able to maneuver Blue to where she could get the ship to in front of her. In a quick movement, she had Blue bite down onto the ship; she and Coran cheered for a moment, until she realized Blue’s jaw was stuck. Allura looked back at Coran, who instantly understood and nodded before he ran for the entranceway to the Lion.

Just as Coran got to the entrance, the drone that was inside the fighter was hopping out. He used the ramp of the lion to take a running jump, and used it to kick the drone in the head, knocking it down. He spotted its’ gun and grabbed it, and fully eliminated it. He looked around to see what was causing Blue to be jammed, and found a piece of metal stuck in the jaw gear. He used the gun to cut into the metal, and then pulled it out as much as he could. He took a couple steps back, clinging to the inside of Blue as he yelled up to Allura to try to open the jaw. A moment later, he felt intense air pressure as the maw of the lion opened up, and the fighter ship went soaring out, before Blue closed back up.

XX

Lance heard Hunk and Allura both come over the intercoms that they were clear of fighters, and he mentally cursed since he knew both he and Pidge still had ships on their tails, but had barely any room to work against them.

“We need help! We can’t shake these fighters!” Lance felt a hand on his shoulder, and jumped in his seat. He had forgotten that Shiro was in Red with him once again.

“Lance, calm down. We’ll figure this out,” Lance took a deep breath and released, calming his mind some. He heard Keith talk to them over the comms,

“I can see your location, I’ll head your way,” Lance couldn’t help but think Black would only take away more room from them.

“Keith, just wait. Black is larger than Red and Green, you’ll only make our escape worse,” He could see over his shoulder that Shiro was smiling at him, agreeing. Keith took a moment, before he agreed, though Pidge was yelling at him.

“Pidge, come on, you’re usually full of ideas. You can figure something out,”

XX

Pidge let out a low growl at Lance, but she knew he was correct about Black. She checked Green for any weapons that they could use against the fighters that were drawing closer, but with the Lion still on low power, her cannon was non-operational, and everything else could only be fired from the front of Green. A glimpse of blue fur came into the corner of her eye, and she turned to find Kosmo staring at her, almost determined.

“Do you think you can handle it, buddy?” The answer Pidge got back was a blink and then a burst of blue sparkles. An explosion was heard behind her a moment later. She laughed loudly, and yelled at Keith,

“I’m stealing your wolf,” Keith had quickly responded with opening up the video comms to give her a deadpan stare, pretty much telling her ‘no’, which only made her smirk back. Another explosion was heard behind her and then another burst of sparkles entered the cockpit of Green. Kosmo stared at her, and licked the side of her helmet as she ran a hand through their fur. A whimper came out of the wolf’s mouth, and they lowered themself to the ground, and Pidge noticed a couple of wounds. She patted their head again,

“Sorry buddy, once we’re out of here, we get you all fixed up,” She opened the intercoms again, and gave the all clear for her and Lance’s end.

XX

Once the all clear came from everyone, they sped their lions up until all their cave paths converged again. Keith congratulated everyone on a job well done, and soon spotted an opening to the outside coming up. A couple minutes later, they were outside of the cave system and saw no more fighter ships near them. They were in the clear fully.

But, soon, they were being hailed and a video message came through their comms, and a familiar alien with red skin with blue and yellow accents filled their screens.

“Attention, paladins of Voltron, this is Command Ship Narti, we wish to talk,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't really change much for this episode, because, besides Hunk unlocking a new function in his bayard, the episode was kind of boring.
> 
> Next chapter though!!! My lesbians!!! Axca, straight and in love with Keith? Fuck that, she's Keith's half-sister and does not really like Krolia and is also part of the Blade! Ezor and Zendrid dead??? No, alive, in love and pirates and actually want to help Voltron. Also, their pirate ship is named in remembrance of Narti, who freaking deserved better.
> 
> tumblr: [chirithy](http://chirithy.tumblr.com/)


	3. Chapter 3

The Voltron Lions had stalled in the air after the video message, and soon a Galran warship came into view, but no more fighter ships came towards them. Keith opened up the comms to all of the Lions.

“What should we do?” Every single one of them looked hesitant, but relieved that they didn’t have to fight anymore at the moment. But, no one could give an answer. These were Lotor’s former lieutenants; they’ve been hurt by them, chased by them, and fought against them. Yet, they were offering a temporary truce just in hopes of talking.

Keith was just about to say something as another hail came through from the warship, all three of the lieutenants stood in frame instead of just Ezor, but this time, the blue one, Acxa, took a step forward. She pulled a blade out of her thigh holster, and held it into view, and soon it started to glow a familiar lavender symbol.

“This is Acxa, a member of the Blade of Marmora. Krolia, I know you are with the Paladins, I’m calling in my favor, confirm my trustworthiness with the Paladins. Bring them abroad, we do simply wish to speak,” The call ended without letting everyone answer, and soon everyone was looking at Keith’s mother, who looked at a loss. Shiro spoke from the Red Lion’s comms.

“Well, Krolia?” Krolia glanced at Keith for a moment, before she nodded.

“I can vouch for Acxa. She is a member of the Blade, and she is someone we can trust,” Keith still didn’t like this, but he took his mother’s word for it. He glanced at his team, they still looked cautious, but they followed Keith as he flew Black towards the warship into a hanger that was opening up for them. The hanger was massive and able to fit all the Lions in snug, and one by one, they all left their lions and walked towards the lieutenants that were waiting for them. Ezor was smiling at them cheerfully and waving, while Zethrid stood away from her a couple steps back, a hand on a blaster. Acxa stood in front of them both, her arms across her chest, frowning.

Keith let Krolia take the lead, and watched as his mother start to look a bit awkward as she walked closer to the blue half-Galran.

“Acxa,” Acxa looked at Krolia before glancing at Keith over his mother’s shoulder, before she dropped a bombshell.

“Mother,”

XXXX

Keith was in shock, stood wide-eyed staring at Krolia and Acxa; Shiro had grabbed Keith’s shoulder and pulled his younger brother back towards him. It was Lance that broke the silence.

“Wait a minute, mother? You mean?” Acxa looked unimpressed, as she looked over at Lance before focusing her stare back onto Keith.

“Yes, Krolia is my mother, which means the Red Paladin is my brother, well half-brother,” Krolia wouldn’t even look back at Keith, looking ashamed.

Ezor broke the tension by poking up from behind Acxa; Acxa didn’t even react.

“Uuuh, as nice as this talk is, can we talk about the more important things instead?”

“Yes, let us talk about a different topic,” Allura stepped forward, as did Shiro, only to block Keith from view, but Lance, Pidge and Hunk were able to get a glimpse of the emotion on his face: betrayal.

XXXX

Ezor led the group through the ship, saying hello to any of her crew members as they walked by. Zethrid walked beside her, silent and frowning, while Acxa walked beside Allura and Krolia. Coran followed the women with Hunk and Romelle. Lance and Pidge walked in front of the two brothers who brought up the rear, with Kosmo leaning against Keith’s legs in comfort, though they was limping slightly. Shiro kept glancing at Keith, fretting over him silently.

“Keith?” Shiro’s voice was barely a whisper, and Keith only tilted his head faintly towards his older brother. When he spoke, Keith sounded so subdued.

“Two years,” Lance and Pidge looked back at that, confused, as did Shiro.

“Two years into the time rift, and she never once spoke of her. There were never any memories that shown of her either. I relived through Pop’s death again, relive other memories as well, told her about my entire life that she missed, told her about all of you…and yet, not a single word telling me about a sister,” Shiro looked at Pidge and Lance, silently telling them to give him a minute with Keith, and they understood, stepping quicker to catch up to Coran and Hunk. Shiro put a hand on Keith’s shoulder, and made him turn towards him.

“Keith, she must have had her reasons,” Keith only shrugged at that. Shiro nudged his little brother to make him look at Shiro.

“How long did it take me and Adam to tell you about my illness?” Keith rose an eyebrow, but could see where Shiro was going with this.

“Two years,”

“And do you know why we waited to tell you?” Keith shook his head.

“Because we didn’t want to hurt you. You had just gotten a family again, and we didn’t want you to know you may lose me. We wanted to save you from the hurt, but it eventually had to come out. I’m not saying I know Krolia’s reasons, but maybe her reasons are similar to mine,” Keith had a faint smile on his face now, and Shiro pulled him into a hug.

“We’ll talk to Krolia later, okay?” Keith nodded, as he hugged his brother back. They pulled apart when they heard their names being called further down the hall, and made their way back to the group. Keith frowned when he found Krolia still wouldn’t look over at him.

XXXX

The former lieutenants had led them to the main control room, only a few members of their crew were scattered around the room doing various tasks. Ezor and Zethrid stepped onto the commander station before turning on their heels to look at the group.

“Welcome to Command Ship Narti!” Ezor said with a smile but it had a sad tone to it. Allura stepped up closer to the lieutenants.

“What is it that you wish to speak to us about?” The lieutenants all look at each other before Axca spoke up.

“Even though we have commandeered this warship, many of its functions were taken offline by its former crew. We’ve tried by ourselves and gotten some functions working again, but not the ones we absolutely want,”

“And why should we help you? The last time we saw you, you attacked us, and took my brother,” The group turned at Keith’s voice, and looked back to wait for a response. Acxa had sighed, and sat down on the commander station, Ezor copying her.

“That was a long time ago. We have changed, and while we can’t prove that we have, we ask that you leave that in the past, we are trying to make up for our mistakes,”

“What do you mean a long time ago, the fight against you all and Lotor was just a few days ago,” Allura spoke, voicing the confusion of the entire group. Acxa raised an eyebrow at her.

“What are you talking about? That fight was three deca-phoebs ago. Do you even realize that Voltron has been missing? That’s why our sentries attacked you, we believed that you were fakes, but then we could hear your voices over the open comms,” As Acxa spoke, the Voltron group was shocked to their cores. It was Pidge, whose shaky voice spoke up this time.

“That must be why I can’t contact Earth,”

“Earth is part of the Coalition, and only allows communication from a certain frequency. If you help us, we can help get you the frequency,” Pidge looked around at the group, to see if they disagreed, but Keith and Allura both nodded at her.

“Tell me what I need to do,”

XXXX

Ezor was quick to show Pidge, Hunk was recruited to help, what needed to be worked on, while Acxa talked to Allura and Coran for a couple minutes about the wormhole functions. Apparently, each warship would have a druid on board to use their magic to wormhole, but no one on their crew had the abilities. However, there was a container that could hold the druid’s magic for the function, in case the druid was needed elsewhere. Allura and Coran looked over the container.

“I could give up some energy, but I would need a day to rest afterwards,” Acxa nodded, understanding.

“We have empty quarters, you can rest here if you wish it,” Allura looked at Coran for guidance, but found that he didn’t object. She stepped onto the commander station, and two poles like the Castle of Lions had begun to appear. Acxa walked away towards Krolia, Shiro, and Keith as Allura got to work herself. Krolia stood a little away from her son, looking anywhere else than her children. Acxa looked at her mother and frowned before stepping closer to Shiro and Keith.

“May we talk for a minute?” The brothers looked at each other, Keith glancing at Krolia, before agreeing. Acxa motioned for them to follow her, and she led them out of the control room into a smaller meeting room.

“I had hoped that Krolia had told you about me before I revealed myself, but I should have known better,” Acxa said with a sigh, before sitting on top of the table. Shiro and Keith sat into the chair scatter around the table.

“Why didn’t she say anything about you?” Keith asked, but Acxa could only shrug.

“I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Krolia…she focuses more on the Blade of Marmora, on their mission, than anything else in the universe. It’s the mindset that every Blade comes to adopt as they continue on. The mission comes before everything. She probably didn’t mention me because I was not important to your mission. I would only be a distraction,” Shiro glanced at his little brother. It was apparent that Keith had been slowly adopting the Blade of Marmora’s ways; he was hoping that now that Keith was back with Voltron, he could focus more on his life and his friends than just the missions. Shiro’s memories may be slightly fuzzy from the past couple months, but he remembered how much it hurt to learn that Keith almost sacrificed himself in the battle of Naxzela.

“Unfortunately, I had the same mindset that the Blade enforces, but my friends have been helping. Since the last battle with Lotor, I’ve become less dedicated to the Blade and more to my own crew,” Keith has had enough, he wanted a change of topic.

“What happened while we were away?” Acxa and Shiro didn’t say anything about his change of subject. Acxa actually looked slightly relieved to talk about something else.

“When Voltron disappeared, the forces were scattered, both Blade and Coalition. In some parts, the forces were weak and quickly overrun by Galra once more, while others stayed strong and were kept defended. However, when Lotor betrayed you, he betrayed the Blade and revealed many of the Blade’s bases, which is why you found that abandoned one. We lost many, but we still continued on,” Acxa turned and looked at Keith.

“However, we could use your help on something else…but we would also need Krolia,” Keith’s eyes narrowed some.

“What is it?”

“Kolivan is missing, there is a Blade distress signal coming from nearby, and only one with high clearance in the Blade can produce this signal,”

XXXX

Acxa, Shiro and Keith left the meeting room after talking a couple more minutes about planning on helping the distress signal. They found Allura sitting against the commander station, looking exhausted with Ezor rubbing her back and Coran hovering over her. Zethrid was still next to Hunk and Pidge, watching what they were doing with slight interest. Lance, Romelle and Kosmo were sitting on the floor next to the entrance, chatting quietly. Shiro stepped forward,

“Allura, are you okay?” Allura waved him off, and gave him a weak smile.

“Only tired, Shiro. If you all don’t mind, Ezor was going to show me to a resting area,” Shiro nodded, but held up a hand to make them pause for a moment.

“When you’re finished resting, we have a mission regarding the Blade that Acxa here would like our help with,” Allura nodded and soon Coran and Allura were led out by Ezor further into the ship. Krolia finally looked up at her children when they mentioned the Blade.

“What’s the mission?” Acxa looked at her brother, showing that their mother was only proving her earlier point; the mission came first. Shiro spoke instead of the siblings.

“A distress signal, however we will need all of our team to go forward with it,” Krolia looked like she wanted to argue, but held off. After a couple moments of looking at both of her children, she headed off in the direction Ezor said the rest area was. Shiro turned and looked at Keith and Acxa, and gave them a faint smile, before headed over toward Hunk and Pidge. Acxa placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder, before going and sitting on the commander station once more. Keith let out a sigh once he was alone, and decided to go over towards Lance and Romelle.

Keith slid down the wall and sat next to Lance, and even though he was close to them, a burst of blue sparkles appeared right next to him. He looked down at Kosmo, and ran a hand through their fur. The cosmic wolf let out a pleased rumble before laying their head on Keith’s lap.

“You okay?” Keith looked over at Lance, and found both Lance and Romelle looking at him with concern. He simply shrugged, not knowing how to respond. How could he really? He just found out he had a sister that his mother did not want to talk about, and his mother was now ignoring him at every chance. Lance frowned, and quickly thought of a topic change.

“In the hallway, you mentioned something about a time rift, can you explain that?” Keith had a small smile on his face, grateful that Lance was doing this.

“Romelle’s planet was located behind a massive time rift. The ship we were taking to get there was going to make the trip a couple of days, but it was destroyed. We were going to just try to float out to it, but it would have been too long,” Lance looked enthralled about the story.

“How did you get there?” Keith ruffled the fur on Kosmo’s head.

“A space whale,” Lance let out a laugh, and waited for Keith to go on.

“It took longer than we wanted; two years on the back of the whale. We found Kosmo as a puppy there, and just tried to use the time wisely,” Kosmo looked up at the trio and wagged their tail.

“But, you were only gone for a couple months,” Keith shrugged; he only knew what Krolia told him, and he tried to keep track of the days, but they blurred together and were hard to keep track of.

“Time was different in there. It felt like two years to me. You said it yourself, I’m taller. I never really noticed until you pointed it out,”

“So you spent two years on a space whale with no one but your mom to talk to?” Keith shrugged his shoulder at Lance’s question.

“I got to know her, she got to know me, I told her about Voltron, I tried to teach Kosmo tricks, and I, also, tried not to get lost in the memories that we were shown,” Lance raised a curious eyebrow.

“Memories?”

“I don’t know how to describe it. After certain bits of times, there would be a burst of light and it brought forth flashes of memories. I saw my dad meeting my mom, I saw myself living with Shiro and Adam…I also saw parts of the future, not many, but some,”

“Anything we should know about?” Keith shook his head.

“They didn’t really make sense, and were confusing. I saw myself fighting Shiro, but I didn’t understand why. But, I do know one thing, I know we’ll get back to Earth. I saw Adam and Shiro reuniting, I saw you hugging your family, Pidge tackling her mom, Hunk crying and hugging his siblings. It made me look forward to coming back to all of you,” Keith looked up from Kosmo at Lance, and saw that the other boy had a mix of sadness and fondness on his face. Keith smiled at him; he knew Lance would appreciate that memory.

XXXX

Shiro walked over to Hunk and Pidge to see how their progress was coming along, they were usually good at taking warships apart and wreaking havoc in them, but not trying to get them to work again, so it would be interesting to see what they were doing. Zethrid glanced over at him when he got closer, and Shiro noticed that one of her eyes was a cloudy white. Although, he was intrigued to learn what happened, he knew from experience from his arm that people prefer not to have their disabilities be a subject to talk about. He, also, noticed, that she was glancing at his missing arm. They both nodded at each other, and Shiro leaned over to look at Pidge and Hunk’s work.

“How’s it going?” Pidge looked up at him, while Hunk turned; Hunk was holding a pair of wires, one sparking slightly.

“I have a list of the things that aren’t working, and with some of the energy Allura gave the ship, I can get the Narti working at almost full capacity in no time,” Pidge looked over at Zethrid and gave her a cheeky smile, which Zethrid returned. The smile made the larger woman seem more gentle, a completely different contrast from the terrifying Galran warrior that they’ve fought before. Pidge liked her, Zethrid reminded her of some of her favorite anti-heroes in comic books; powerful, terrifying but can be nice when it’s possible.

The squeak Pidge released from her mouth when Ezor popped out from behind Zethrid was hilarious; she could hear Lance laughing at her from across the room, even Hunk and Shiro let out a chuckle, while Keith and Acxa just looked at her fondly.

“Zethrid, isn’t the Green one the one gained your respect for tazing you and kicking you in the face?” Zethrid turned Ezor with a growl leaving her mouth, and Pidge’s mouth opened in shock. Ezor just laughed away, and ignored Zethrid’s threats.

“She loves tiny little vicious things. You’re definitely her favorite paladin to fight,” Pidge was now smiling fully.

“Wow, thank you. I think you’re awesome too. I liked how you threw Keith across the room that one time,” The group around her let out a laugh as Keith yelled out her name; she simply stuck her tongue out at Keith. Zethrid looked over at Keith, sizing him up slightly.

“He may have grown some, but he would still be easy to throw,” Keith took that a challenge, and now the Paladins knew he was going to ask to spar against Zethrid if they had the time.

XXXX

At one point, the group got bored of just watching Hunk and Pidge work, and they decided to go the rest area as well, leaving Ezor and Zethrid behind. One room was closed off with Coran sitting in a chair nearby, telling them that Allura was still resting. Krolia sat on a window ledge, looking out into the space around them; she didn’t even looked away when they entered the room like Coran did. Kosmo decided the ten foot walk was too far, and teleported themself onto the couch next to Coran, Keith smiled when he noticed that Coran leaned forward and give the wolf a rub around the ears.

There were three other empty rooms, and he turned to Shiro, who automatically knew what he was going to say and shooed him away to go rest. He gave his brother a hug, and Acxa a small smile before disappearing behind one of the doors. Lance sat down on the couch next to Kosmo, who immediately placed their head into his lap. Shiro sat down in an empty chair close to the couch. Romelle yawned and stretched before going into one of the empty rooms.

“Coran,” The mustachioed man looked up at the sound of his name and found Shiro looking over at him.

“Why don’t you get some rest as well? You stayed up all night on watch,” Coran looked like he was about to argue, but he started to yawn as well, making him deflate slightly.

“You’re right, Shiro. If Allura wakes before I, make sure she rehydrates and eats something please,” Shiro nodded, and watched as Coran vanished into the last empty room.

Once it was only Shiro, Lance, Acxa and Krolia, Krolia stood from her spot and marched over towards Acxa.

“I wish to speak to you,” Acxa looked unimpressed with Krolia’s slightly hostile tone, but she turned on her heel and led her mother out of the room. Shiro and Lance looked at each other, and shrugged, not really knowing how to react to that.

Lance and Shiro sat in silence for a couple minutes, listening to the sounds of their sleeping friends. Lance played with Kosmo’s fur for a little bit, before he looked over at Shiro.

“Hey, Shiro?” Shiro looked away from the window to Lance, who was looking a bit shy.

“What’s wrong, Lance?” Lance sighed, before asking,

“How do you get over a crush?” Shiro raised an eyebrow, but he got more comfortable in his chair as he thought about the question. He knew it was about Lance’s slight crush on Allura. He believed that Lance believed that it was love when it was really only a crush, the feeling only intensified with Lotor’s relationship with the princess.

“You need to take a break from the person for a little bit, find a way to distract yourself. A part of you will always love this person, but soon it will turn over to platonic if you just give it time,” Lance frowned, but he knew it was true. He ruffled his own hair in frustration; it was going to be hard to take a break from Allura when they were jammed into five lions with only themselves to keep company. Shiro knew it wasn’t the best advice, but he added some more.

“Lance, take some time and think about the person you truly want. Are they the one that balances you out? What is it you’re actually looking for?” This was a bit better, and made Lance think more. It was true, his crush on Allura was more of an aesthetic crush; he did like her passion, and her slight childishness. But, did she truly complete him? Or balance him out? He thought back on the many times that she shut him down when he had a plan, and looked down on the way he made friends with the local populace on every planet they visited. It hurt when he thought she didn’t appreciate his skills as a Paladin, but at least, she still liked him as a friend. And he could be there as her friend.

“Thanks Shiro,”

“Anytime, Lance. I mean it, anytime you need to talk to someone, I’ll try to be there for you,” Lance looked up from Kosmo with glassy eyes. He rubbed at them slightly.

“Seriously, thank you Shiro,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I did okay with this chapter. I really don't know how to work with Romelle and Zethrid. But, I really think the former Lotor lieutenants had more potential and the writers ruined it but killed them off, and not making Acxa related to Keith and Krolia, despite freaking looking like them both.
> 
> Watch me next chapter throw hands with a fictional omnipotent god because he kept calling my boy dumb. Oh, wait, next chapter is Kolivan's rescue. Catch me in two chapter throwing hands with a fictional god. Next chapter, we have Keith and someone else rescuing Kolivan, because Keith needs to stop being a lone wolf. Also, Lance starting to get over his crush on Allura. Edit: Oh right, the Feud episode is next! I am definitely going to fight Bob.
> 
> I left some clues about what I did with Earth, and I will build up on them more soon. I promise. 
> 
> My classes start soon, but since it's the first week. I will probably be able to get more chapters out soon. I'm going to try to work on the next one soon and get it out hopefully before the weekend. But, it's kind of depending on my health. My health isn't the best at the moment, but writing gives me something to keep my mind off of the pain and the sick.
> 
> Anyway, talk to me on tumblr: [chirithy](http://chirithy.tumblr.com/) or watch me ramble on twitter: [sylleblossum](https://twitter.com/sylleblossum/)


	4. Chapter 4

Keith blinked at the sudden bright light, and thunderous clapping. He tried to put himself in a defensive position but he found his feet glued to the floor. He quickly looked around and found his entire team to his right, all looking highly confused. Keith took in the setting around him, and it hit that it looked like an old family game show that he and Adam used to watch on sick days.

“What the actual fuck is going on?” Keith didn’t even censor himself like he was used to doing on the Castle. He heard Lance and Hunk gasp at him, though a flash of humor went through him when he heard Allura asked the other boys what a fuck was.

Game show music started to play, a standing blue horse-like alien popped up in the corner and start announcing for the show. Keith heard something about Garfle Warfle Snick, and he looked at his friends.

“Weren’t we on the Narti? I could have sworn I just fell asleep,” Allura and Lance nodded at him, while Hunk and Pidge said something about how they had just been working in the core of the ship. As they were talking, a floating chair came down from the ceiling, and a greenish alien sat in it in a tan suit. He didn’t even look over at the paladins, instead stared at a suddenly appearing camera. There felt like a skip in time for a moment, as if the show was being fast-forwarded real quick. The paladins all looked at each other once more, concerned. They ignored the apparent game show host up until the moment he got right into Keith’s face, making him flinch back. A microphone was being shoved into his face.

“Uh, what’s going on?” The game show host only laughed at him, and pointed at the announcer.

“Looks like someone wasn’t listening to Norlox! Come on, audience, let’s tell him what’s going on!” There was a burst of voices, saying the game show’s name again, and the host told the paladins his name. Bob seemed too simple a name for an alien that just kidnapped them. The microphone was back in Keith’s face.

“So, your name?”

“Uh, Keith?” He, also, asked how they had gotten here, but Bob made a crack about his announcer, before looking back at Keith, asking him to introduce his team. Keith looked back at the other paladins. He found Lance was leaning back to look over Hunk and Allura, trying to figure out where the audience noises were coming from. Pidge looked like she was ready to hide behind Keith, while Hunk was waving at the camera pointed at them. Allura was looking into the camera, just completely unimpressed.

“We are the Paladins of Voltron. This is Allura, Hunk, Lance and Pidge,” He tried once more to ask how they had gotten here, but Bob cut him off with a joke about traffic. He really didn’t understand what was going on. And then, Bob got into his personal bubble talking about the game rules.

“You know how our game works, Keith. All you got to do is win a quaz-cenbuillon credits, and you win. But, of course, if you don’t, you’ll hear this sound,” A sound of the trombone came out of nowhere, before Bob continued talking.

“And that means you’re trapped here in our studio for the rest of eternity,” The paladins let out a yell of frustration and confusion. Pidge had questioned Bob, but he made an echo joke out of it. If Keith’s feet weren’t glued to the floor, he would’ve launched himself over the desk he was behind. This was so frustrating. Bob turned back to them, the aura around him more threatening.

“See, all of you are guests on my show and you will play my game as long as I want you to. Understand?” The shift from threatening to a smile was terrifying, and all the paladins quickly nodded their head, agreeing. No clue what Bob would do them if they disagreed. Bob floated away from them, and started talking to his announcer again.

“Great! Let’s start with our first Warfler. Why don’t you tell us what it is, Norlox?” Keith’s attention turned to the other blue alien, who pulled a card from his station.

“The first warfler is….Pication!” A screen appeared behind Bob, as the fake audience cheered. Keith nearly yelled out as he was being lifted off the ground, and over towards Bob. A new desk appeared in front of Keith, and on it was what appeared to be a drawing tablet and a pen. Bob began explaining the game to him.

“Now, Keith. Pication is the drawing game. The answers will pop up on the screen where your team can’t see them. It’s up to you to draw the people and place you’ve seen during your adventures as a Paladin of Voltron while your team tries to guess the answers. So, are you a good artist, Keith?” Keith didn’t really respond. He thought he was an okay artist, but he was secretive about his art. But, if this game goes like the ones he’s played on Earth, he would only have about a minute to draw out the answer and no artist could do a great job depicting decent things in a couple of seconds. Bob ignored him,

“Well, I hope you’re a better drawer than a talker,” Bob snapped his fingers, and suddenly Keith’s bangs were out of his eyes, and what felt like a piece of duct tape on his mouth. The fake audience laughed at him, while his friends looked at him with some pity. Bob pointed at the screen behind the paladins this time.

“Let’s put blazzle hoochas on the board,” God, Keith missed Earth time measures.

“And start!” The word ‘Arusian’ appeared on the screen, and Keith quickly thought of the first one they ever met, Klaizap. He tried to quickly draw him, but the time was going by fast, and Keith deduced he only had about 30 seconds to draw each topic. Fuck.

He could hear his friends guess a random assortment of things, but none of them came close to the right answer.

“Keith really cannot draw,” Keith ruffled his own hair in frustration, as he heard Lance say this. He knew he was better at this, but he quickly went back to drawing. Then, he heard Allura’s voice ring out.

“It’s an arusian!” Bob yelled out that she was correct, and Keith almost sighed in relief, if it wasn’t for the duct tape on his mouth. But, now wasn’t the time to celebrate for the next drawing prompt popped up onto Keith’s screen.

This one was the Blade of Marmora, which could be simple. Keith started to draw his own sword. Keith, however, broke his pen when Lance guessed that it was a pair of chopsticks. However, he heard Pidge tell the group that it was a sword, and watched as she slowly figured it out.

“Blade of Marmora!” They were told they were correct again, and the next prompt came up. His old lion, Red. Keith got to drawing as quickly as he could, after he shook off the slight shock of another pen appearing in his hand. He heard Lance guess a dog, but looked up when Hunk said lion. He started nodding his head frequently, and Hunk started guessing the colors of each Lion, but stopped when he noticed Keith was pointing at the Voltron symbol on his own chest.

“It’s the Red Lion!” There was a burst of cheers from the fake audience as they were told they were correct once more. But, Keith did not even pause as the next prompt showed up once more. Haggar. He couldn’t really remember what she looked like, but could remember what the druid robes looks like, and the witch’s long white hair, so he could work with that. However, he paused and looked up when he heard Allura start yelling at Lance for shouting out random answers.

“I’m sorry! It’s how the game works on Earth!” Lance did have a point about the game, and him saying the things that came to mind helped the others try to place the picture. He went back to drawing when he realized he was running out of time. But, no one was guessing the right thing. Not even close. But, just as he finished drawing, the timer buzzed, and Keith found himself being drifted back over to his team. He tried his best to not look too downfallen.

Bob pointed to the other side of the set where another group could be set up.

“Since Team Voltron didn’t guess the last prompt, the other team will be given the opportunity to steal,” The floor opened up and the next team was shown to the paladins, and Keith couldn’t believe his eyes. It was Zarkon, Haggar, Lotor, and some other Galran they’ve never met before. He could see that Allura looked really hurt seeing Lotor again, but these people had to be fake or an illusion because Voltron had taken care of both Zarkon and Lotor. Bob floated over to the other team, and had them introduced themselves.

Bob pointed at Keith’s last drawing that was still on the screen, and had Zarkon try to guess what it was. Keith’s frown deepened, when he saw the fake Zarkon look between his drawing and the fake Haggar. Zarkon let out a laugh and wrapped an arm around Haggar.

“Well, she’s not going to like the answer, but I believe Young Keith was trying to draw my lovely wife, Haggar,” Bob quickly confirmed that Zarkon had correctly answered, and the paladins’ frowns deepened even more as the Galra team gloated and showboated about their win.

“Well, Zarkon, you have garfled the first warfler. That puts you in control of the board. Do you wanna play or pass?” Keith tuned out when Lotor tried to command his father choose to play, which caused a slight family fight to break out. Keith even flinched when Lotor randomly slapped the unknown Galra; it brought back slight memories of old foster homes, but Keith shook himself of the flashbacks when Zarkon and Bob started talking again.

“So, what are you going to do, Z?”

“Well, I’ve always said that the best offense is a good defense,” Bob crossed his arms across his chest, tilting his head slightly.

“Sounds like you’re going to pass,” Zarkon nodded.

“I am, but I think I’d also liked to play this,” Zarkon held up a card, which made Bob go ‘uh-oh!’. A new screen popped up, showing the sigil that was on the card, Keith didn’t understand what it meant, but Bob yelled out and explained,

“The solo card! That means one of these Paladins is gonna have to take the next warfler all alone. So the question is, Zarkon, which one is it gonna be?” Bob said, quickly turning back to Zarkon, who looked like he was in deep thought. Then, he smiled cheekily.

“Well, I think there’s really no choice here. I’m going with the dumb one!” Keith tilted his own head in confusion, looking at his team. He didn’t really consider any of his friends dumb; they were all good in different aspects of their lives. Pidge with hacking and computers, Allura with diplomacy and magic, Hunk was great cooking and engineering, and Lance had his intrapersonal connectivity, while Keith, himself, was good with fighting and flying tactics. But, it was obvious that the fake Zarkon and Bob had a different idea, because they both pointed at Lance. Keith grew angry when Lance began to look crestfallen, but before he could reassure Lance, Bob said something about a word from sponsors.

The lights dimmed down, and Keith leaned over Pidge.

“Lance, don’t listen to them,” Lance looked over at Keith in shock.

“But, I’m not like Hunk or Pidge,” Keith shook his head.

“That doesn’t matter. You’re smart in your own way. You can do this,” Lance gave him a shy smile, just as the light brightened back up. Lance was quickly lifted up into the air, and brought into center stage. Lance crossed his arms, and glared at Bob, as Bob explained to the camera what happened a couple minutes before with the Galra team. Bob kept calling Lance the dumb one; Bob turned to Lance, trying to act all buddy-buddy,

“Heya, Lance, how’s it going?”

“Well, you know what, I’m not too happy about being referred to as ‘the dumb one’ like 18 times,” Bob waved him off,

“Oh, it was only about four time, you big dum-dum,” Keith had finally had enough.

“Will you just stop it?! Lance isn’t dumb. Just because he’s not like Hunk or Pidge, doesn’t mean he’s not smart. Lance is Voltron’s intrapersonal liaison. He’s the one who makes most of the connections with every planet we’ve come in contact with, he’s part of the reason that the Coalition works so well,” When Keith looked up after he was done yelling, he found everyone staring at him, making him flush slightly. Bob looked intrigued, while Lance looked so happy. But, the moment quickly passed, as Bob looked back to Lance and then the camera,

“Are you ready for your solo challenge?” Lance looked away from Keith, seemingly more determined now.

“Absolutely!” Bob looked happy with Lance’s answer and turned to his announcer.

“Alright, Norlox, tell Lance what the next warfler is,” And it was quickly announced that the next game was Face from the Past, which sounded like it might be down Lance’s alley. Bob asked Lance if he knew how the game was played, but Lance lied to him, making Bob stare him down, before going into an explanation of the game anyway. Another screen was lowered, and apparently pictures of random aliens that they’ve met would appear, and Lance would have to name all of them, and for each name, team Voltron would get more points that they need to earn their freedom.

Some sort of tube came down from the ceiling, enclosing Lance inside.

“Just to make sure you don’t get any help from your friends, we’re going to have you hang out under the isolation shield. Now, let’s start our game!” Bob gestured to the screen, making Lance’s attention turn to it. A flash of familiar faces started going by really quickly on the screen, it started to slow down and looked like it was about to stop on Kolivan, but moved over to Antok. Lance looked over at Keith once more,

“Well, the first guy was Kolivan, leader of the Blade of Marmora, and I think this guy Keith told me about, I didn’t get to know him much, but I think his name was Antok,” Bob looked slightly bewildered but shook it off quickly and verified that Lance was corrected. Keith gave Lance a reassuring smile. He had this.

The next pictures went by quickly, and slowed down on some familiar mermaids. First, stopping on Plaxum and then, switched over to a mermaid that Keith didn’t really meet, but Lance looked excited.

“Alright, Lance, do you know who this pretty little lady is?” Lance frowned at Bob’s statement.

“Well, the first one was Plaxum, but this is actually Swirn, who uses neutral pronouns, and wouldn’t appreciate being called a pretty little lady. They are a fierce mer-warrior, and works closely with Queen Luxia,” Keith’s smile turned smug, as Bob looked taken aback.

“That is…that is correct, my apologies. Next face!” More faces went by, and started to slow down on a familiar pair of rebel thieves. Lance practically cheered,

“Well, that’s Nyma and Rolo!” Team Voltron cheered as Lance got another correct answer.

“Well, Lance, you are getting lucky. You’re three for three, but had you not gotten a single right answer, you would have gone to the snick,” The screen changed to a livefeed, showing a terrifying shell-like creature, roaring at the camera. But, the image switched back to the picture of Rolo.

“But, you’re doing good, and if you get the next one, the other team will go to the snick,” Keith leaned over slightly, looking at the Galra team for the first time since this round started. They looked completely frustrated, and Keith’s smugness grew. They shouldn’t have underestimated his right hand man.

“Well, here’s the last one. Tell us who he is, Lance!” Bob said, as the face flashed by quickly, and finally settle on an alien Keith had actually never seen before, but Lance had quickly answered.

“Bii-Boh-Bi!! That’s my boy Bii-Boh-Bi!!” The audience and the Paladins cheered, while Bob clapped his hands, seemingly impressed. He turned to Team Galra, saying goodbye to them, and the fake galrans disappeared. The tube around Lance was lifted back up into the ceiling, and Lance was lifted back over to his teammates. Hunk gave a huge hug, while Pidge patted him on the shoulder. Allura gave him a smile that Lance reluctantly returned, before he turned back to Keith, and then his smile grew huge. Keith returned a timid one. He didn’t notice that Bob said something about sponsors again, but blinked when the light dimmed once more.

“Good job, Lance, knew you could do it,”

XXXX

They watched as a mini-golf course appeared on the side of the stage, and Pidge be lifted over to it. Keith didn’t have many concerns about this challenge, and just watched as Pidge took her time, doing some calculations and measurements to make the prefect shot. But, he narrowed his eyes slightly, when she went to swing; Pidge pulled back really far, and was about to use a lot of power.

The ball was shot forward with a lot of power and speed, and Keith watched as it hit the top of the golf course, and went straight for Bob’s head, knocking him over his hoverchair. Pidge grabbed him from midair, and wrapped her arm and her golf club around Bob’s throat.

“Let us go now!” Oooh, angry Pidge has been released. Keith held back a laugh, but then there was a flash of light, making his group blink. Keith looked to his right to find Pidge standing next to him once more. Bob was now looming over them.

“It looks like the Paladins have just made it into the final round!” The audience cheered and Bob turned his creepy smile towards the paladins.

“One of you will now be allowed to leave the game, while the rest of you will be staying here with me forever. You have blazzle hoochas to write down your choice for who should get to escape on the screen in front of you,” Drawing tablets and pens appeared in front of each paladin, and a screen separated them from looking at each other. The faces of his fellow paladins appeared on the screen, but Keith knew who he was going to choose.

Bob started with Hunk, and Keith leaned forward to look at Hunk’s screen, and was slightly surprised when Allura’s picture was shown. He would have guessed that Hunk would pick Lance or Pidge. Bob had Hunk explain his answer.

“Well, I voted for Allura. I figured she’s the princess and she’s such a natural leader, you know. The universe needs her more than it needs the rest of us, plain and simple,” Keith was impressed with Hunk’s answer, and could see the logic in it. Allura thanked Hunk, before Bob turned to Allura and Pidge’s photo was displayed. Allura smiled,

“I selected Pidge. She and her family have the best chance of rebuilding what my father started,” Keith nodded, understanding Allura’s reason. Then, Bob turned back to Lance.

“Lance, who got your vote?” Keith blushed suddenly when his photo showed up on Lance’s screen. Lance gave Bob a cheeky smile, but it turned shy as he explained why he chose Keith,

“I voted for Keith. He’s our leader, plus he’s half Galra, so I think he’s, like, the future,” Lance, then, wouldn’t really look at Keith, but Bob did.

“Interesting! So, Keith, who did you choose?” Keith’s blush grew slightly, as Lance’s photo was shown. Bob looked surprised,

“Lance, why Lance?” At the sound of his name, Lance turned his head quickly to look at Keith.

“I, uh. I wasn’t wrong when I said Lance was our intrapersonal guy. He makes friends with everyone he meets, even ones that steal from him. He can keep the coalition glued together, and help everyone stay focused on their goals like he did with me when I started out flying the Black Lion. He’s my right hand man, and I have hope that he can continue Voltron’s legacy,” Keith only glanced at Lance from the corner of his eye, but found the Cuban boy had his mouth open in surprise. Everyone on his team looked shocked as well, but he crossed his arms and gave off an air of indifference, which made Bob turn to Pidge.

“We’re down to our last vote. Pidge, you’re the Paladin that everyone says is the smartest, the most analytical, the most logical. Let’s see who you voted for,” There was a tense moment as they wait for Pidge’s vote to be shown, but soon a photo of Hunk appeared. Bob leaned forward, questioning the small girl.

“Hunk? Seriously?” Pidge nodded and smiled.

“Yeah, Hunk get along with everybody, just like Lance. If anyone’s gonna go out into the universe and bring people together, I think it’s Hunk,” Keith looked back at his team smiling fondly at them, and didn’t notice that Bob hovered away from them.

“No one voted for themselves. Everyone wanted someone else to get to leave and every single one of you got a vote,” Lance asked if they were going to be fed to the Snick since no one person was voted on twice to leave. But, Bob turned his chair quickly, his smile actually seeming kind,

“You all get quaz-cenbullion credits! You win!” There was a burst of confetti, and the audience began to cheer for them. Hunk hugged Lance once more, as Pidge began pumping her fist in the air in victory. Keith just kept smiling at his team.

That it all went to black as Bob announced that that was the end of the show.

XXXX

Keith slowly opened his eyes, and found himself staring at the ceiling of the room he had been resting in. He sat up in his bed; he was extremely confused. He pulled his armor back on as quickly as he could, and went back out to the main resting area. He turned his head and found Allura leaving her room as well. Lance was pushing himself into a sitting position on the couch, while Kosmo let out an unhappy grumble now that their source of heat left them. The three of them stared at each other, but jumped slightly when the main door opened and Hunk and Pidge both walked in, looking just as confused.

“I’m pretty sure I just had the weirdest dream,” Lance said, as he ran a hand down Kosmo’s back, making the wolf go back to sleep. Pidge took a step forward,

“Garfle, warfle, snick?” Hunk looked down at her,

“No way,”

“You guys saw that, too?” Keith questioned, and watched as Allura and Lance nodded. Lance looked around at his friends,

“So, wait, does that mean Bob is real?” Everyone jumped in the air, startled, when another door was opened and Coran came walking out, with an astonished look on his face

“Did you just say Bob? Did you all meet Bob?” Allura looked to her advisor, ready to inquiry about the alien they just met.

“Coran, do you know him?” Coran looking slightly unnerved, before explaining,

“I’ve never met him myself, but I’ve heard tales. He’s an all-powerful, all-knowing interdimensional being who judges the worthiness of great warriors. The legends say that if you meet Bob and live to tell the tale, you’re destined for great things indeed,” The paladins all looked at each other, clearly thrown through a loop.

“The guy was kind of a jerk, though,” Keith said, breaking the tension of the room, and making his friends laugh, agreeing with him.

After a couple minutes, Hunk and Pidge turned to make their way back to their work, Coran and Allura following after them. Keith sat in the chair closest to his wolf.

“Thanks,” Keith looked up at the quiet, shy tone of Lance’s voice. Lance was looking down at Kosmo, though.

“Thanks for what you said during that whole thing. It meant a lot to me,” Keith smiled once more at him.

“I meant every word, Lance,” Lance flushed slightly, and looked up at Keith. He grinned back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I realized this morning, that the feud episode was actually after the lieutenants one, I grabbed my laptop and just started writing. I really did not like this episode. They were so horrible to Lance, who deserves better. Actually, all these characters deserve better.
> 
> I'm just glad I wasn't as sick as I was yesterday, and was able to write all this without taking much of a break. I'm going to try to start writing the Kolivan chapter tomorrow, depending on how I feel, I may have up by this weekend hopefully. I have more inspiration to write this than I do for all my other fics, which I feel really bad about.
> 
> I'm gonna go take my meds now and go nap. 
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr: [chirithy](http://chirithy.tumblr.com/)  
> Or watch me ramble on twitter: [sylleblossum](https://twitter.com/sylleblossum/)


	5. Chapter 5

Keith and Lance looked over at the door when it opened once more, finding Krolia standing there. She wouldn’t really look Keith in the eye, but motioned her head to the door.

“Shiro and Allura would like to talk about the upcoming mission,” Keith and Lance both nodded, getting off their respective seats. They chuckled as Kosmo groaned at Lance leaving, before they stretched and got off the couch to follow them.

As they follow Krolia down the hallway to the control room, Lance glanced back and forth between Keith and his mother. Keith caught his stare and raised a confused eyebrow, and followed Lance’s eye line to Krolia. He began to frown, and looked like he was about to say something, but they reached the control room.

Acxa and Allura stood on the commander station, looking at a planet display. The other paladins stood at one side, while Zethrid and Ezor stood at the other. Krolia walked over to the other lieutenants, and Lance and Keith made their way over to the paladins. Keith looked around the room for a moment, before nudging his brother,

“Where’s Coran?” Shiro gave him a cheesy smile,

“Making friends with the crew,” Keith nodded his head, understanding. Coran and Lance were very alike in the way of making friends anywhere they went; Coran’s friends, however, were usually more diplomatic, and were made by playing various games that were played in space that the paladins couldn’t quite understand.

The planet on display grew larger, the name of it was displayed in Galran, so none of the paladins really knew how to pronounce it. A circle appeared around a city, and was enhanced, and then began showing the distress signal.

“How are we so sure this is a distress signal? It just sounds like deep space interference,” Pidge asked, as she got closer to look at the signal. Krolia took a step forward,

“Before the Blade was unified, we used this crude way of communicating with each other. It is supposed to sound like interference, but if you listen closely to the sounds in-between the pulses, you will hear the message,” Everyone closed their eyes to concentrate on the sounds coming from the signal, and sure enough, they was a pattern of sounds similar to Morse code.

“Not many would know this code, only a senior member. Which is why we believe it is Kolivan,” Acxa spoke next.

“We were able to narrow down which city it was coming from, but it is most likely underground, so we can’t get a precise location. We were hoping the Green Paladin would be able to get the exact location once we touch down,” Pidge blinked in surprise when Acxa looked at her, the blue Galran gave the small girl a smile of confidence. A copy of the signal was sent to Pidge’s wrist computer to let her work on it. She quickly gave a nod to the group,

“It’s doable, Green will be able to help amplify and find Kolivan’s position once she’s touching the ground,” Krolia and Acxa looked relieved at that. Allura took a step forward to say her part,

“We don’t have much information about the planet or the city itself. Attempts at communicating with the city have not been successful, and when Ezor sent a drone to the city, we found this,” Images popped up onto the display of a war-torn city with destroyed buildings and no life to be seen.

“We are not sure if there are still hostiles or allies on the ground. So we wish for our non-combatants to stay up here and keep an eye on things up here on the ship. Romelle, Shiro, you will be staying up here with Coran and the Narti’s crew,” Shiro looked like he wanted to argue, but he glanced down to his missing arm, and understood the reasoning.

“Our mission is simple: find and locate the source of the distress signal and rescue them,”

XXXX

Since they felt that Voltron was not going to be necessary, they decided to only take three lions; Yellow, Black and Green. Keith took Acxa, Lance and Kosmo down with him in Black, while Pidge held Zethrid and Krolia, and Hunk brought the rear with Allura and Ezor. As soon as Green touched the ground, she began running Pidge’s algorithm to locate the signal, and found that Acxa was correct in saying that the signal was coming from underground. Now, they just needed to find a way down there.

But, the search for the entrance to the subterranean was cut off by Kosmo starting to growl. Keith turned to find his wolf, facing a certain direction and their growls grew louder. Soon, they went running overtop a pile of debris, Keith following close behind. Keith watched as Kosmo tackled a cloaked figure. He summoned his bayard, and held the sword close to the mysterious figure as his team came running up behind him. Kosmo backed off slightly to show that the figure was also masking their face. Keith patted Kosmo on the back, telling them good job, before he took a step forward to the figure.

“Who are you? Who’s broadcasting that signal?” The unknown person sat up slightly, holding their hands up.

“I am,” Acxa took a step forward, looking over the person.

“Impossible, you’re no Blade of Marmora,” Since they couldn’t see the person’s face, the group remained tense. But, the alien made no move to pull a weapon or to stand.

“I will explain if you would put your weapons down,” Keith glanced over at Ezor and Zethrid, who were always battle ready, and Zethrid gave him a slight nod, telling she was ready if there was betrayal. So Keith pulled away his sword.

“Let’s see what he has to say,” He told the group, letting the person stand from his sitting position. The alien motioned for them to follow him, and they found they were being led to a cavern entrance that led underground. Keith caught Pidge’s eye and motioned to her wrist, which she understood quickly, and she silently left their current coordinates of their location sent to the Narti. Shiro confirmed that they were received quietly in their comms, and told them to be careful.

The group found themselves deep underground and stopped in a room that looked quite lived in. The alien started to make a small fire in the fire pit in the center of the room, before he sat on a crate near the fire. Pidge’s wrist communicator beeped at her, making her look.

“The signal is coming from below this area,” The alien let out a low chuckle.

“You are clever. But, of course, I would expect nothing less of the Paladins of Voltron,” Lance turned around from his watchpoint at the entryway to question the alien.

“You know who we are?” The alien gave a slight nod,

“Of course. Though, I am surprised to actually see you. All were certain you had perished,” Lance frowned at that.

“So we’ve been told. But, we’re back now,” He looked away back towards the entry way, staying on guard just in case. Keith stood next to Lance, facing the group, and he crossed his arms.

“Who are you? What happened here?” He questioned the alien. Keith glanced from the corner of his eye, watching as Krolia was making her way to a closed off area behind a blanket hanging on the wall.

“I am Macidus. Bloodshed happened here, death happened here. This was once my home planet, but however, I am the only one left alive here,” Keith looked over when he heard his mother gasp, and watched as she pulled out her blaster and pointed it at Macidus. He could see the room behind her now, and found it full of Blades displayed on the cave wall, almost like trophies.

“What are you doing with these?” Macidus didn’t even seem shocked by the gun now pointed at him, before he answered,

“I hang them in honor of their sacrifice. They died trying to protect the universe,” Krolia lowered her blaster slightly.

“What happened here?”

Macidus began telling the story of what happened. Of the druids coming to attack his home world, and the Blade answering their call for help, but it was all for naught. Like Acxa had told them, many Blades were exposed by Lotor’s betrayal, and were slaughtered. The druids left a trap on this planet, and its inhabitants were caught in the crossfire. Kolivan had been in the battle leading the Blade’s assault. Macidus had only survived because he got buried under a fallen structure in the final battle, and remained undetected. He had awoken after the battle was done, and all was gone. And Kolivan had not been seen since.

“I’ve been sending the signal Kolivan gave me ever since in hopes of finding other Blades,” Krolia made her way back to the room full of Blades as Keith confirmed that there were still Blades of Marmora out there. She took one from the wall, running a hand against the metal.

“I recognize every one of these blades. I trained many of them myself. If only I had been here,” Acxa and Keith looked at their mother, at a loss for words, as she held up the blade she pulled from the wall. Both recognized Kolivan’s sword, and for a moment, they mourned their former leader. But, the moment ended quickly, when the sword began to glow lavender once more. Krolia brought the blade closer to look at the light,

“It’s flickering. Every Marmoran’s life force is connected to their blade. Kolivan’s is still glowing, though weak, it means he’s still alive,” A terrifying, low laugh rang out through the room, and everyone turned back to Macidus,

“Just barely,” Macidus stood from his spot, looking towards Keith and Lance. He pointed at Keith’s right hand.

“Your hand is looking much better,” Keith looked at his hand confused, as Macidus let out another low laugh.

“Oh, you don’t remember our fight?” There was a slight crackle of purple energy around the alien, and Keith had a flash of memory of an early Voltron mission, when he fought against a druid and injured his hand with liquid quintessence. Keith took a step back, closer to Lance and summoned his bayard; Lance turned as well, holding up his sniper rifle, Kosmo growling in-between them.

“You’ve been using that signal to draw Blades in to murder them,” Soon, everyone held up their weapons, aiming for Macidus, but he only responded with more malicious laughter.

“Kolivan proved useful after all,” And he was gone in a blink of an eye, apparently teleporting out of the room, leaving behind a blinking small rectangular device that was fell to the floor. Krolia had apparently recognized it, and shouted for them to run, but it was too late. It cracked onto the floor, and pink energy began to fill the room.

But, Keith and Lance disappeared in a burst of blue sparkles before the energy filled the room and trapping the group.

XXXX

Keith and Lance found themselves further into the cavern tunnels, Kosmo wagged their tail at them, proud of themself for getting the two of them away from the danger. But, the moment was gone soon, when Kosmo snarled and turned at the sound of footsteps. Keith and Lance quickly found some place to hide from the approaching Macidus. They winced at the sound of metal scraping across rock, and hid in the shadows as the man drew closer. There was a couple moments of silence, before both of them found a blade coming towards their face. Kosmo growled, and teleported their wards out of the way, before the druid blasted them with some of his lightning magic. Once they touched the ground again, they took off running further down the caverns.

They countered the druid’s attacks with Keith’s sword strikes and Lance’s rifle, but couldn’t seem to get away from the enemy. Kosmo tried to attack as well, but Macidus always teleported out of the way. Just when they thought they got a hit in, Macidus teleported and disappeared out of their field of view. Keith and Lance looked at each other, before running once more. They had to locate Kolivan and defeat Macidus.

After every couple minutes, they could hear Macidus teleporting behind them, but they did not engage and only running faster, and with Kosmo’s help teleporting out of the way of Macidus’s attacks, until they came upon a larger cavern and found Kolivan, chained to the ceiling. But, before they could get closer to him, Macidus appeared before them, a smirk upon his face.

“With all of your deaths, Lady Haggar will allow me to return,” Keith looked to Kosmo, and disappeared from beside Lance to attack Macidus while Lance laid down some firepower. They grew frustrated that the druid would teleport out of the way. Lance ran up to Keith, and they stood back to back. Keith turned his head at just the right moment to watch as Lance’s bayard transformed into a longsword. He blinked away the surprise as Macidus attacked once more.

Together, they were able to hold back Macidus’s attacks, and get some hits in as well. Kosmo bit into Macidus’s forearm and teleported the man closer to the paladins, but he threw the wolf off, just as Keith tried to attack. Lance looked back in shock as a flash of purple lightning flew past him, hitting Keith, but before he could react, he fended off another attack. He took a couple steps closer towards the Red paladin, swinging at the druid to keep him back.

Lance helped Keith stand and they turned back to Macidus, swords at the ready. But, they watched as pink energy destroyed the ceiling behind Macidus, and the rest of their group came jumping down, weapons pointed at the druid once more.

They all attacked at once, but it seemed futile as the druid only seemed to teleport out of the way, knocking some of them out of the way and injuring them in some way. Keith noticed that Macidus was making his way slowly towards Kolivan. He nudged Lance, making him look over as well. Lance ran towards Macidus to attack, with Keith close behind. And just as Macidus teleported out of Lance’s way to behind the blue paladin, Keith was there with his sword, ending the fight.

Lance turned back towards Keith with a confident smile on his face and held up a fist. Keith knew what to do, and bumped his own fist against Lance’s.

“Good work,”

XXXX

Hunk and Zethrid helped unshackle Kolivan from the ceiling and lowered him to the ground carefully for the older man was badly injured. Pidge got closer, pulling up her medical scanner.

“He’s in rough shape, but it looks like he’s going to be okay,” After Pidge said this, Kolivan slowly began to wake and looked around at the group in the room.

“I’m sorry that my code lured you all here,” Keith shook his head at his former trainer.

“There’s nothing you could have done,” Kolivan frowned at that. Acxa took a couple steps forward, looking over the Blade leader.

“Our medical unit on board would be able to help heal you faster. Zethrid, Hunk, could you help get him above ground?” The two nodded. Zethrid took ahold of Kolivan’s shoulder and back while Hunk picked up his legs. Carefully, they were led back to the surface and to the lions.

XXXX

Once in the medical unit, Kolivan was quickly taken care of, and once the nurse step away, Acxa, Keith and Krolia got closer, while the rest stood just outside the door.

“Kolivan, those coordinates I sent you for the Altean colony. Were you able to find it?” Kolivan gave a slight nod.

“We were able to rescue and relocate some of the Alteans on Olkarion, but when we went to save more, we were ambushed by druids and Haggar. We could only save a handful more, before we had to evacuate, the rest were taken. Before I found myself here, I had sent another team to locate them. Once I get back to base, I will have more information,” Krolia spoke up from her spot against the wall,

“Judging from the Blades that Macidus had collected, we have lost a good number of agents, but he did not defeat us entirely,” Kolivan sighed, sitting up more on the medical cot.

“I must return to the main base, and connect with our agents. I do not know what happened while I was in captivity,” Krolia looked at her children, before turning towards Kolivan.

“I will join you,” Acxa and Keith turned and looked at their mother in shock, and waited for her to explain.

“You need as many agents as you can, now that our numbers have lowered. Acxa, may we have one of your ships?” Acxa was glaring at her mother, but quickly turned to look at the Blade leader.

“Whatever you need, Kolivan, you can have. Send a message back to the Narti if the Blade needs more,” Kolivan nodded in understanding, and without looking at her mother, Acxa turned on her heel and walked out of the room. Keith was staring at the ground, clenching his fist in anger.

“Keith,” The sound of his name made him look up, and he found his mother standing in front of him now.

“I need to do this. I’m sorry that I have to say goodbye for a second time,” Keith scowled.

“It’s for the good of the mission. The Blade comes first, doesn’t it,” Krolia’s eyes widened at Keith’s words, and watched as he left the room as well, after saying goodbye to Kolivan. In the doorway, she could see Shiro frowning at her.

XXXX

Keith found his sister in an observation room, looking out on the vastness of space. She sat against the farthest window, and looked over at him when the door opened. She motioned with her hand, telling him to come over, so he did and sat against the window as well.

“I was four when she left for her reconnaissance mission,” Keith looked over as Acxa began to speak.

“My papa knew she worked for the Blade, and was not worried when we did not hear from her after a deca-phoeb, but after two more had passed, he finally did. And when he made the call to the Blade, there she was, answering in her no nonsense tone. She had just gotten back from her mission, she had just been debriefed and would be home soon,” Acxa never looked away from the window,

“And there she was, a movement later, she was exhausted-looking but there was a sense of guilt coming off of her,” Acxa turned to look at her little brother,

“She broke after a couple phoebs, and she finally told us of you and the man she met on Earth. She broke my papa’s heart,”

“Acxa, I’m sorry,” Acxa shook her head at Keith’s apology, she did not blame him.

“It’s not your fault. After the truth came out, she took on more Blade missions, started coming home less and less. And soon we only saw her through video calls. My papa tried to remain strong, but after a couple more deca-phoebs, the heartbreak became too much, and he was gone. I had nowhere else to go, but to her. But, by the time, I stood in front of her once more, she was no longer my mamma, but just the woman who gave birth to me. I hated her for what she did to my papa,” Keith pulled at the neck of his black armor under-suit, pulling out the long chain that held his father’s ring, showing it to his sister.

“My pop never told me about her. I actually thought she was dead for most of my life, because he would always tell me she was among the stars. The man I saw in the memories of the time rift wasn’t the man I knew as my pop. It was as if he was a shadow of who he once was. When Krolia left, she took a part of my pop with her and he was never the same. He passed away when I was nine,” They looked each other in the eye, before letting out weak laughter at how alike they were, and what Krolia had done to them.

“Keith, she may be leaving, but I’m not. If you let us, I would like to help your team get back to Earth, to your home,” Keith gave his sister a relieved smile.

“Thank you,” She smiled back at him, before leaning forward and ruffling his hair. Acxa only laughed at his sounds of protest. She let go of his hair after a couple moments, before leaning against the window, facing the door.

“We should probably head back to the group. I promised your green friend Earth’s communication frequency. I would also like to eat something, and change out of this dusty armor,” Acxa stood from her spot, and held out a hand to Keith, helping him stand as well. Keith looked down at his own armor. He wished he could change as well, but all he had was his Blade armor to change into, but he didn’t want to wear that anymore. As they walked out of the room, Keith nudged his sister to get her attention.

“Do you have anything I can borrow?” He gestured to his own armor. Acxa looked him over before nodding,

“I may have something,”

XXXX

The other paladins and lieutenants had the same idea as Acxa and Keith and separated to change into their civilian clothes, and met back up in the main control room. Coran had tied off the right sleeve of Shiro’s shirt so the fabric wouldn’t catch on anything. Ezor shared some of her own clothes with Romelle and Allura. Romelle now sported a dark blue sundress with long flowy white sleeves and black flats, while Allura wore dark tight pants with a pink shirt with a white jacket.

A couple minutes passed, and soon Keith and Acxa reappeared; Keith now wearing black pants tucked into his boots, with a sleeveless turtleneck shirt and his ever familiar fingerless gloves. Keith was running his hands up and down in his arms, complaining to his sister about the coldness of the ship, but Acxa only waved him off. She tried to give him a jacket as well, but either it wasn’t the right color or the right texture for him, so she couldn’t help.

Acxa made her way over to the other lieutenants, while Keith, pouting, made his way over to his friends. He looked away from his sister to find Shiro smiling down at him, making him raise an eyebrow,

“You two seem to be getting along nicely,” Keith nodded; Acxa was interesting, and the two of them were kind of similar. Shiro threw his remaining arm over Keith’s shoulders,

“Think she’d get along with Adam?” Keith shrugged his shoulders, but smiled to himself, realizing that his brother was quickly adopting Acxa into their small family. Beside the two brothers, someone cleared their throat, and they both looked to find Lance standing next to them, holding a bag.

“Here,” Lance pushed it into Keith’s hands, making Keith take it, and his eyes widen in surprise when he looked inside.

“I grabbed it when we were evacuating the castle. Figured you might want it back,” Keith pulled his red jacket out of the back, and found it wrapped around something hard. He pulled the hard thing from out of the jacket, and found himself holding his old sketchbook. Keith pulled his jacket back on, finding it a bit snug but still fit, but his attention stayed focused on his sketchbook. He held it up, looking at Lance. The other boy flushed slightly, looking away from Keith.

“It was poking out from under your pillow. I thought it was important, so I grabbed it,” Keith smiled at that, before opening the book to the first page, where a photograph was taped on the inside; a picture of him, Shiro and Adam smiling at the camera, standing in front of Keith’s childhood home stared back at him. Shiro’s grip on his shoulder tightened slightly as he also looked down at the photo.

“Thanks Lance,” Keith said, as he looked back up at the boy, smiling even more. Lance’s flush deepened, and he shrugged.

“No problem,” Lance looked like he was about to say more, when a voice rang out from the commander’s station where Pidge was working. A voice that they all could recognize, but mostly Pidge.

“Katie, is that you?” Pidge looked like she was about to burst into tears at the sound of her father’s voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! School started back up for me, and my health kind of took a tailspin. I've been fighting a fever all weekend. Hopefully, I'll get better soon, I have another doc appointment that's coming up, that should get me some answers. Anyway, enough about me!
> 
> I hope I'm doing okay, I love every comment and kudos I get on this fic, and it makes me want to keep going!! I'm sorry I'm bit mean to Krolia, but I'm not her biggest fan.
> 
> The next chapter will focus on talking to Earth, the paladins connecting with their lions, and trying to make their way home.
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr: [chirithy](http://chirithy.tumblr.com/)  
> Or watch me ramble on twitter: [sylleblossum](https://twitter.com/sylleblossum/)


	6. Chapter 6

Pidge wiped away the tears from her eyes that appeared when she heard her father’s voice.

“Dad, what was Gunther’s name going to be when we got him?” Everyone in the control room sent Pidge a confused look, but Pidge had planned this when she had sent her dad back to Earth. Voices could easily be impersonated, but the questions that Pidge, Matt and her father prepared could only be answered by members of the Holt family. Pidge smiled when she heard her father chuckle on the other end of the call.

“You tried to name him Bae Bae when you were seven, but he already recognized his name from the shelter so we kept it. What is yours and Matt’s full names?”

“Matthew Jericho and Katelyn Diana Holt,”

“Katie, it’s so good to hear your voice, baby girl. I’ve missed you so much,” Pidge smiled, her eyes getting watery again.

“Dad, I’m so sorry. I just found out about us being missing, we’re doing everything in our power to come back to Earth,”

“That’s good to hear, do you mind explaining what happened to you?” Pidge looked back at the other paladins, but they still didn’t quite understand what happened.

“We were fighting against Lotor in a quintessence field, he caused too many rifts in the fabric of time and space. We had to overload the teleduv in the Castle of Lions to create enough energy to close them, and maybe somehow in the resulting explosion, we were probably caught in a time rift. We are still trying to understand it ourselves,” Pidge looked to Hunk, Allura and Coran for validation on her theory, but they still answered with uncertainty, though it seemed plausible.

“Sounds like an interesting adventure,” Samuel responded.

“You could say that. The Lions don’t have much power at the moment, but we made some friends that can help get on our way,” Pidge looked over her shoulder at the lieutenants, with a tentative smile which Acxa returned and nodded. The blue half-Galran took steps forward closer to the telecommunication device Pidge was speaking to.

“Hello, I am Acxa of the Command Ship Narti. My crew and I will escort Voltron to Earth as soon as we’re able. Give us a few quintants and we shall arrive in the Sol System. What does the situation looking like over there?”

“Hello there Acxa, I am Samuel Holt of the Galaxy Garrison, Earth’s representative for the Coalition. The situation is calm at the moment. However, we’ve received word from Olkarion to anticipate an incoming attack within the next movement. Voltron would be greatly appreciated for help,” Acxa activated a console and brought up Earth’s coordinates; soon, it displayed a route to the planet from their current location. By the sight of the map, they were halfway across the universe from their home planet. But, with the energy Allura had given to the ship, the Narti would be able to take a couple jumps to take up the bulk of the journey.

“We will get Voltron to you as soon as we can,” Acxa stepped away to talk to Zethrid and Ezor about making preparations, so Pidge took control over the communication again.

“Dad, how has Earth holding back Galran forces for all this time? Last I remember, we barely had the technology to make it to Kerberos,” She heard her father laugh again.

“It’s a wonder what humanity can do when they gain access to new technological knowledge. We have to thank our Altean friends in person when we see them again. Much of the information that Coran and Allura had given us has kept Earth protected and kept enemy ships at bay for the years that Voltron has been gone,” Coran looked extremely pleased to hear that. Altea may be gone, but they were still able to help other cultures advance and protect themselves.

“That’s so amazing, dad. I can’t wait to see what you’ve done,”

“And I can’t wait for you to come home,”

XXXX

Samuel promised that Earth would be ready and waiting for Voltron to touch down. A homecoming for them to remember. But, they would need to get the Voltron lions back to full power.

The Voltron group found themselves in the cargo bay, facing all of their lions. Shiro took a step forward looking at all of the lions, before turning to face the group.

“I may have an idea. The lions and the paladins coexist with their energies, correct?” Everyone looked to Coran and Allura for an answer, both nodded, before Coran spoke up,

“Alfor had once said that he and Red were one of the same, though still separate. No matter how far he was away from her, he could always feel her and could call upon her quintessence to help him,” Keith blinked in surprise at, before saying,

“When I suspected Zarkon was after me for being Galran, and I ran away with Allura, Red was able to find us even though we were so far away from her. Even when I was away with the Blade, I felt Black and Red’s presence with me, I think they were some of the reasons why I survived some of the missions,” Coran nodded along with Keith’s story, then looking to Shiro for an explanation,

“If the lions are able to help us, would we be able to help the lions? We did it once before when we fought against Zarkon the first time, and we were struck by the quintessence beam,” Allura smiled,

“Correct! You were all incapacitated, but in a matter of doboshes, you had Voltron back to full power. I can see where you’re going with this, Shiro. It could work,” Allura said as she took steps closer to Blue. She nodded to herself, turning back to the other paladins.

“Paladins, go to each of your lions. We’re going to connect with them, and bring them back to full power ourselves,”

XXXX

Hunk sat in Yellow’s pilot chair. He could hear his friends chattering on the comms, getting ready to do one of the strangest things that they had thought of. It could work in theory, but Hunk didn’t quite understand how exactly they were supposed to recharge the lions, using themselves. He had heard Shiro talking about going into the Astral Plane.

Hunk let a deep breath, closing his eyes and tuning out the others’ voices. He focused on the connection he felt with Yellow. He needed to do this to go home.

All he wanted was to go home, after fighting for so long. He thought of his moms, his dad, and his brother and sister. He thought about exactly what he was going to do when he reached Earth once more: hug every single person in his family, eat his mothers’ home cooking, sleep in his own bed, and just stand outside and watch the sunset.

He was taken from his thoughts by a lion’s roar, making him open his eyes. And instead of being in Yellow’s cockpit, he found himself standing in a canyon similar to the one he found Yellow in. He could no longer hear his friends talking. He looked at the area around, confused. The sky and the whole area was tinted Yellow.

“What is going on?” Another lion’s roar directly behind him was his answer, and he turned on his heel and found himself face to face with Yellow, though he was now smaller than normal, about the same size as a normal Earth lion. When Yellow noticed he had Hunk’s attention now, he wagged his tail before taking a few steps forward.

Through his connection with Yellow, Hunk could feel Yellow going through his memories, mostly of the ones of home, but many of his life as a paladin. Yellow shown him how terrified he was at the very beginning of his journey as a paladin to just the other day when he unlocked a new function to his bayard.

 _‘Though you remain afraid, you stand strong. Ever changing, grounded, and keeping your team standing like a true guardian of land and paladin of the Yellow Lion,’_ Hunk’s eyes widened at the sound of the voice, it had no source, but a part of him was telling him it was Yellow.

Yellow waved his tail once more, letting out a purring sound, before taking more steps forward and nudging Hunk’s chest with his nose. Hunk began to glow a golden yellow, as did Yellow. Hunk beamed at his lion, lifting a hand and placing it on Yellow’s head, giving him a rub. The energy shared between the two was warm and felt like he was being enclosed in a hug. Hunk closed his eyes and sighed in content.

When he opened his eyes once more, he found himself back in his pilot chair. The displays lit up the entire cockpit, but the one thing that stood out the most was that every feature was fully operational.

Yellow’s eyes lit up before the lion stood and let out a thunderous roar.

XXXX

Allura did have some self-doubts; she was worried that the lions weren’t charging from their paladins because of her. She had always wanted to be a paladin since the first time she had seen the past paladins in action. But, what if she was never meant to be a paladin like she dreamed?

Allura closed her eyes and let out a sigh. But, when she opened her eyes again, she found herself floating underwater, no longer in the Blue Lion. Allura did not let herself panic, and found quickly she could still breathe. She knew instantly where she was, in Blue’s Astral Plane.

Appearing before her without a sound, Blue floated in the water with her, smaller than what she was normally. Allura felt like Blue was looking deeply into her very soul.

“Am I meant to pilot you?” The Blue Lion did not react, but Allura could feel a questioning aura coming off of Blue. Blue looked around at the water around them, making Allura look as well.

 _‘Like the ocean, you started small,’_ As the voice spoke, it brought forth memories to Allura; of when she was a young girl, watching the lions fly above her, of waiting for her paladins to make it through their first battle, of herself trying to figure out Blue and pilot her. Then, more memories sprang forward: of her going against Haggar, unlocking her quintessence powers, of making it through Oriande yielding to the White Lion, unlocking new powers for Blue, and so many more.

 _‘Then, you grew stronger, unyielding, flowing forwards, surrounding the ones you love and helping them float on their own. Princess, do not doubt yourself, you are my paladin,’_ Allura felt tears pour from her eyes, and she watched as herself and Blue began to glow a soft blue. Blue let out a pleased purr, floating closer to Allura, circling around her a couple times. Blue nudged her elbow, and Allura pulled the lion into a hug. She felt as if a current was flowing through her, but she stood strong.

Allura opened her eyes again, founding herself back in Blue’s cockpit, she felt the lion purring around her as the displays told she was back at full power.

She felt Blue stand up and let out a booming roar.

XXXX

Pidge tried to question Shiro about the Astral Plane as much as she could, but the older man couldn’t really bring himself to describe it. However, he told her that the Astral Plane may be different for each lion, and a different experience for each paladin. Pidge did not like going into something without knowing about it. She pulled up video feeds to the other lions, and found both Hunk and Allura already meditating, Keith was talking to Shiro, while Lance looked around his lion, still unsure.

Pidge closed the feeds, and leaned back into her seat, and stared at the ceiling. She was so close to going home; she closed her eyes.

Complete silence surround her, and that made her open her eyes once more, for there was always some noise going on in her lion. Pidge looked on confused, as she found herself surrounded by trees. It reminded her of the Redwood National park with the trees being so tall they disappeared into the sky.

An amused purr came from behind her, making her turn and found herself eye to eye with Green, who was the size of an actual lion. The lion let out a chuff, before taking a few steps forward to her paladin, bumping her head against Pidge’s chest. Pidge leaned her head down, resting atop Green’s. She always felt safe with Green no matter where she went. As if knowing what Pidge was thinking, Green began to purr more.

 _‘Like a seed placed in soil, you grow and grow,’_ Pidge lifted her head in surprise at the voice, and found Green staring up at her.

 _‘You dare to question, and find ways to survive through the toughest scenarios. My paladin, I cannot wait to see what you grow into,’_ Both Pidge and Green began to glow a light green color. Pidge could feel the proud aura coming off of Green’s spirit, and Pidge closed her eyes at the feeling of invisible vines wrapping loosely around her.

Pidge opened her eyes at the same moment that Green’s began to glow; she smirked when she heard her lion release a roar and her screens flashed back her telling her full power.

XXXX

Lance ran his hand against one of the steering controls, before taking hold of both of them. His brow furrowed in determination.

“Red, we can do this,” Lance smirked as he felt Red rumble in agreement. Soon, he felt his chest fill with heat, which then, coursed throughout his entire body. He placed a hand over his heart, before closing his eyes at the feeling. Lance opened them when he felt something rub against his other hand.

He looked down to find Red looking up at him, now in actual lion size. She rubbed her head against his arm once more, and he felt her tail wrap around his other arm. He took this chance to look around him, and found himself standing amongst a flaming inferno. But, it wasn’t burning him nor felt hot at all.

 _‘You burn bright and wild like a bonfire, but you believe yourself to be a simple match,’_ Lance jumped in surprise at the voice, but the warmth coming from Red calmed him. It was only Red. But then, he frowned at the statement.

 _‘You must guide your fellow paladins as the flame in the darkness, as Voltron’s right hand. You are no simple boy, you are my paladin, you are more than you think you are,’_ Lance felt a little misty-eyed at Red’s words, and he felt his lion rub her head against his hand once more, purring. He smiled down at her, rubbing a hand over her head and neck.

Lance and Red began to glow a faint red, as Lance felt the warmth engulf him once more. He closed his eyes, relaxing in the comforting heat. He smiled as Red’s purring grew louder, and she wrapped herself more tightly around like a hug. Lance felt the heat enveloping him grow larger and larger, filling the area around him.

And when Lance opened his eyes once more, he was sat back in his pilot chair, the displays telling him that Red was fully functional and ready. He smirked once more, as Red lifted herself onto all four of her paws and let out a ferocious roar.

XXXX

Keith tried to convince his brother that maybe Black would reach full power with the both of them, but Shiro was not having it.

“I don’t feel Black’s presence anymore, Keith. And I think this is something you need to do on your own,” Shiro placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder after he was done talking. Keith frowned slightly, but he understood.

“I’m going to go outside and wait with Coran and Romelle,” Shiro said, as he made his way out of Black’s cockpit. Kosmo looked between Keith and his brother, and tilted their head in confusion at Keith. Keith nodded to the wolf, and watched as his companion stood up and followed his brother out of the lion.

Keith leaned back into his seat, and took a couple deep breaths, calming himself, before closing his eyes. After a few moments, he didn’t know how exactly he knew, he opened his eyes and found himself in Black’s Astral Plane. He didn’t really look last time he was here, but Keith found himself surround by a sky full of stars. He even recognized some of the constellations as ones he could see from Earth.

There was a low purring sound coming from the left of Keith and turned to find himself staring at Black, not as big as he normally was, but much bigger than a normal Earth lion. Black wasn’t looking at Keith, only looking up at the sky, making Keith look up as well. Two stars were a different color than the rest; a vibrant blue and a bright red.

“Why can’t Shiro feel you anymore, Black?” Keith asked, not looking away from the stars.

 _‘He deserves rest,’_ That statement made Keith look up at his lion, and found golden eyes staring back at him.

 _‘He has done his part, his duty as a paladin is complete. You are my paladin now, do you not wish to be?’_ Keith took a step back, not expecting that question. He thought back on his time in the Blade; the constant missions, the loneliness, the isolation, missing his friends and his family every day. The Blade made him stronger, yes, but he had started to lose a part of himself.

“I just thought you chose me because Shiro asked you to,” Black let out a huff, his tail waving slightly in the air.

_‘I chose you because you had potential,’_

“But, when I was your paladin, I kept messing up,” Black let out another huff, this one sounding amused.

 _‘And Shiro does not?’_ Saying that, Black brought forth mermories to Keith’s mind; Shiro burning toast to pitch blackness, Shiro tripping over his own feet because his fiancée smiled at him, Shiro getting his hand stuck in a pickle jar. There were many more that Black shown Keith that made Keith laugh at his big brother, and Black seemed proud.

 _‘The universe is full with mistakes. Mistakes can go many different ways, but what you must do is learn from them. That is how you grow strong,_ ’ Another memory of Keith’s was shown in his mind; of a younger him, jaded and at war with the world around him for not understanding his grief. But it was quickly replaced by others: him sitting with his fellow paladins laughing and covered in goo, Hunk pulling him into a hug, Pidge smiling up at him, Lance knocking their fists together, sharing jokes with Allura, listening to one of Coran’s stories, and Shiro and Adam hugging him.

_‘They make you grow strong. Will you protect them?’_

“Do you even have to ask?” Keith looked up at his lion who, with his answer, start purring even more. Both Black and Keith began to glow a light purple color. Pleased with himself, Keith looked back at the star-filled sky, back at the red and blue stars. He pointed up at them,

“Black, why are those stars different?” Black followed Keith’s hand to the direction of the stars, and his purring intensified.

 _‘Their potential,’_ and then Keith’s vision went black.

Keith opened his eyes at the sound of lions roaring, including his own. A quick glance around Black’s displays told him that Black was ready to go, at full power.

XXXX

The paladin quickly made their way out of their lions as soon as the lions let them go; smiles adorning all of their faces, proud of what they had accomplished. Coran and Shiro looked delighted as well, and they soon found themselves being pulled into a group hug. The human paladins looked back up at their lions, overjoyed that they were one step closer to going home.

They only wondered what was waiting for them back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me what you think of this chapter, I'm very nervous about it. The episode originally was good, but I thought I could go a different way.
> 
> Also, thank you for the well wishes!! I greatly appreciate them, they warm my heart. As of today, I'm one step closer to recovering, but there is still a small wait unfortunately. Surgery is in my future, but I still have a month until that happens, so I have to deal with being sick in the meantime.
> 
> Next chapter is going to be the Earth one, and I can't wait to write it!!!
> 
> I need to go to sleep now, I have class in the morning. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!!! Heart you!
> 
> talk to me on tumblr: [chirithy](http://chirithy.tumblr.com/)  
> watch me ramble on twitter: [sylleblossum](https://twitter.com/sylleblossum/)


	7. Chapter 7

When Samuel Holt landed back on Earth three deca-phoebs ago, just outside the Galaxy Garrison, the first thing he did was pass out from sheer exhaustion and exhilaration. When he awoke, he found himself in the medical wing of the Garrison; a quick glance around told Sam that it was the isolation ward. He frowned as he sat up on the medical bed, and stared directly into the one-way mirror. Sam knew there had to be at least one person behind there, keeping watch on him.

“I would like to speak to a Commander, anyone who is available. It’s utmost importance. The faith of Earth could be in danger,” There was no response, but Sam didn’t really expect an immediate response. He watched the clock above the door; 30 minutes passed before there was a knock on the door. Sam crossed his arms, before saying,

“Come in,” The door opened to reveal Commander Mitch Iverson, his ever present frown still on his face. Iverson stared at him for a couple moments, before taking a step away from the door, revealing someone Sam hadn’t seen in years.

“Colleen!” His wife stood there, a hand over her mouth in disbelief. Colleen started to cry as she began running forward to hug her husband. Sam rocked her back and forth as he started to cry. He apologized to her over and over again for his disappearance.

Sam didn’t know how much time had pass as he and Colleen held each other when an awkward cough came from near the door. Colleen pulled away, and leveled Iverson with a glare. She crossed her arms across her chest.

“When can I take my husband home?” Iverson looked a bit uncomfortable, before he cleared his throat once more.

“Unfortunately, Mrs. Holt, Commander Holt has to still be debrief, and then there is the possibility that he may not be allowed to leave the premises,”

“Why not?” Colleen stood strong and furious at her full height of 5’3”, which even made Iverson take a step back.

“Ma’am, your husband has been considered KIA for three years. If he was seen in public, there would be chaos,”

“So just announce that a member of the Kerberos mission has been rescued,”

“It’s not that simple. We would have to explain how he survived those three years in space, and the other two missing members,”

“Then have Sam explain what happened to him,” Sam stood out of his hospital bed, and wrapped an arm around his wife’s waist. Colleen looked at him, but Sam shook his head.

“It’s not simple as you think, dear. If I tell the world what happened to me, Matt and Shiro, the world would panic. I would like to speak to the other commanders, show them my plans, and get the Garrison and the World prepare for what’s out there,”

“What is out there, Commander Holt?” Sam looked up Iverson.

“War,”

XXXX

Sam stood in the large meeting room, and looked around at the various other commanders. There were new faces that Sam partially recognized and some he didn’t. But, there stood in the back of the room next to his wife was someone he definitely recognized, Adam Wakim, Shiro’s fiancée. Colleen had pulled the boy closer to her, and gave him a hug, before they both turned to focus on Sam’s lecture.

Sam pulled out his Olkari display tablet, placing it on the table. He began to tell the people in the room about the universe and the war that was happening out there. He told them about Voltron, the Rebels, and the Galra. He showed them the efforts that were going into stopping the war, and the various ways other planets were doing to protect themselves. Lastly, he introduced them to the friendly alien species: the Olkari, Balmerans, and more.

“Do you believe the war will come to us?” Sam looked away from his display to Admiral Sanda. He sighed, before he nodded. Sam pulled up an image of Earth.

“I have information that tells me that Galran forces has made their way to Earth a couple times before. We are in a sector that has been unconquered by them, and at the moment, the Galran forces are scattered and trying to conquer as many sectors as they can. For all we know, we could be next,” Admiral Sanda leaned back in her chair, holding Sam with a steady gaze.

“What do you believe we should do?” Sam smiled and pulled up an image of the Castle of Lions and then pressed another button, and the image was wrapped into a particle barrier.

“I know you won’t let us tell the public until we’re absolutely ready, but I ask if we can talk to the other Garrisons around the world for this project,” Sam looked around the room, before pointing at the particle barrier.

“I propose that the Galaxy Garrisons create their own version of this particle barrier. I have the blueprints for various types, but I believe with our best minds on the job, we can make our own. Possibly solar powered, so it can continuously work. We will, also, need to work on a deep space communicator so we can talk to our allies in the war. They would be able to aid us through the processes,” Sam looked to Admiral Sanda, who still looked unconvinced. Then again, that was her usual facial expression.

“What about weapons? These lions of Voltron, can they be recreated?” Sam pulled up pictures of the lions, before he shook his head.

“Unfortunately, the Voltron lions are made from a one of a kind metal of trans-reality meteorite, and the way that they were made was lost at the fall of Altea ten thousand years ago. But, I have blueprints for fighter ships that we can begin working on, and once we have the communicator up and running, we can get in contact with a Balmera and be able to have access to a power source for them,” Sam looked around at the other commanders, before pressing one last button. A video was shown to the group of people, showing the paladins of Voltron, Coran and Princess Allura. Allura stood at the front and spoke,

“Hello, Sam ask us to make this video to talk to Garrison Galaxy,” Shiro, behind her, shook his head before correcting her.

“Oh, Galaxy Garrison. My name is Princess Allura of Altea, and these are my paladin of Voltron. I believe they were once part of your organization,” Lance waved at the camera, while Hunk and Shiro saluted, and Pidge just gave an unimpressed look.

“We ask you to heed Sam’s words. The war out here is harsh and unyielding. We have seen many terrors, hardships and misfortune, and we wish for Earth to not experience these troubles. We have several allies that have agreed to help Earth when the call is made, Voltron included,” Allura ended the message with a smile, before the video ended. Sam looked back at Admiral Sanda, and watched as she gave him a slight nod.

“The public must not be made aware of anything until the particle barrier is made and ready to be launched. How long do you think it would take to prepare the device?” Sam looked down at his blueprints.

“I would need to take to the other Garrisons so we each can start working on a sector of the barrier. Once we talk and start working, I believe we can have the barrier ready for launch in a matter of two months if we work quickly. Now, the deep space communicator can probably only take a month at most, and we would need to get started as soon as we can,” Admiral Sanda looked around at the group of commanders, looking for any disapproval, and when finding none, she nodded to Sam.

“Let’s get to work,”

XXXX

When the meeting was adjourned, Admiral Sanda walked over to Sam and Colleen. Sam saluted her, and then shook her hand. She turned and gave Colleen a small smile, which Colleen returned.

“Sam, I’m sorry to say this but we can’t let you leave the Garrison property until we’re ready to make the announcement,” Colleen and Sam began to frown, but in the corner of their eye, they saw Adam walk forward.

“Excuse me, Admiral Sanda,” Sanda turned and raised an eyebrow at Adam, who just gave her a relaxed smile.

“My home is a half mile away from Garrison property, and my closest neighbor is a mile away. May I offer that Commander Holt stay with me?” Sanda looked Adam over, before looking at Sam and back at Adam.

“Can you guarantee to me that Commander Holt will not be seen by the public?” Adam nodded. Sanda sighed, before she nodded.

“Meeting with the other Garrisons at 0800. Wakim, make sure Commander Holt makes it on time for his presentation,” Adam nodded, as Sanda walked away. Adam turned back to the Holts, a smile still on his face.

“Shall we go?”

XXXX

Adam took Sam to grab his things he brought from space, before he led Colleen and Sam to his car. Sam and Colleen sat in the back of the car, just to be right next to each other. Adam sent them a smile through the rearview mirror, as he began to drive to his home.

Five minutes of driving had them parking in front of a two story cabin. Colleen let go of Sam to grab ahold of Adam’s hand as he looked at the cabin with wistfulness in his eyes. He patted Colleen’s hand before letting go and walking them to the front door. Once inside, Sam looked around and found various pictures of Adam and Shiro together, and ones of Keith and then some of them altogether. The couch in the living room looks like someone has been sleeping on it for a while, and when Sam turned to Adam, he looked a little sheepish.

“When Shiro was pronounced…when Shiro went missing, I couldn’t bring myself to sleep in our room anymore,” Colleen nodded, agreeing with Adam. She did the same when Sam and Matt disappeared.

“So I’m going to go change the bedsheets in the master bedroom and you and Colleen can take that room,” Adam said, before making his way towards the stairs. Sam looked around at more of the pictures and picked one up off the fireplace mantle; it was a picture of Adam and Shiro, looked like Shiro had picked Adam up and was twirling him around, both were laughing with their eyes closed. The photo next to that one appeared to be a selfie with Adam hiding his mouth behind his hand while behind him Shiro was holding Keith up his armpits, Lion King style. Another was of Shiro and Keith passed out on a blanket outside. They made quite the family.

“Commander Holt?” Sam turned away from the photos and found Adam a couple feet away from him.

“Please just call me Sam,” Adam nodded,

“Tell me, please, how are Shiro and Keith doing?” Sam gestured to the couch to have Adam sit, while Sam and Colleen took the loveseat nearby.

“Shiro is the leader of the Voltron paladins. He has a lot on his shoulders, but his team keeps him strong. Keith, however, I didn’t see him when I rescued, but I was told he was fine and is working hard in an organization called the Blade of Marmora,” Sam stood up, remembering something and went to his bag. He pulled out four flash-drives, each had a different name on it. He handed Adam two of them, and Adam said one had Shiro’s name while the other had Keith’s.

“I had all the paladins make messages for the families. Katie got in touch with Keith and had him record something for you. It should tell you more than I can,” Adam looked at Sam and then down at the flash-drives, before holding them against his heart.

“Thank you, Sam,” Sam patted Adam’s knee in comfort.

“Now, I just need to find a way to get these other ones to Lance and Hunk’s families,” Adam and Colleen looked at each other for a moment, before nodding and then Colleen spoke up,

“You’ll have an opportunity to in a couple days. The families of all the missing teens, we like to meet up every couple weeks to check on each other. We usually just sit and talk, support each other, be there for each other. It’s what we needed, and now we all see each other as family,” Sam felt his eyes water up slightly as Colleen talked, and then he pulled her into a hug. She let a soft sob into his shoulder, and he began to rock her again. He looked over her shoulder at Adam and whispered ‘thank you’ to him.

XXXX

Adam was lacking on groceries so Sam’s first meal back on Earth was a pizza, but Adam and Colleen promised home cooking the next day. After dinner, Adam disappeared into his office, while he shooed the Holts to bed.

Adam laid both flash-drives on his desks and just looked at them as his laptop booted up. He didn’t know which one to watch first. His hand hovered over Shiro’s for a moment, before picking up Keith’s instead, and plugging it in.

The video popped, waiting to be played, but Adam took in the image of Keith. He was in dark purple and black armor, completely different from the Paladin armor he saw Shiro in. He looked exhausted, paler than normal skin, and bags under his eyes, and even though he was covering it with a hood, Adam could tell that Keith’s hair had grown longer, messier than before. What happened to him out there? He pressed play.

“Adam, its Keith. Wait, obviously you know that,” Keith looked so awkward talking into the camera that Adam let out a small laugh.

“Adam, I’m sorry. I should’ve waited that morning for you, maybe you’d be up here with us. I took Shiro away from you for a second time. He’s fine by the way, I think he’s making one of these as well. I don’t really know, I’m not a paladin anymore,” Adam frowned at that. Keith was a paladin, but why wasn’t he one anymore.

“Anyway, I need to cut this short, I have a mission coming up. I don’t know when or if I’ll come back to Earth. I found something out when I was out here,” Keith looked hesitant and unsure, before he spoke again.

“Apparently, I’m part Galra, which is an alien species out here. My mom is alive, and I’m part of the same organization she is. It was part of the reason I joined,” Keith wasn’t looking at the camera, a torn expression on his face. Adam wondered what else caused Keith to join. The part alien part was interesting, but it didn’t change his feelings for his pseudo little brother. Adam just wanted Keith and Shiro to come home, but he didn’t even know when they’ll come back, or if even Keith would come back like he said.

“I miss you Adam, I really do, stay safe and I’ll try to do the same,” The video ended, and Adam disconnected the flash-drive. He felt a little numb, but he pulled himself together enough to plug in Shiro’s video. The screenshot showed Adam how his fiancée looked now up in space, just like he had when he crashed down on Earth a year ago; a shock of snow white hair for his bangs, and a long scar across his nose. He was dressed in civilian clothes, a black shirt with grey sleeves.

When Adam pressed play, Shiro gave the camera a nervous smile, and he ran his metal right hand through his hair.

“Adam,” Shiro released a breath, smiling still a little shaky.

“I hope Sam brings this to you as soon as he can. I don’t even know what I want to say. I’m in space and still alive, surprisingly,” Adam rolled his eyes at Shiro’s humor, but he began to smile some. After Shiro said that, his smile brightened looking directly into the camera.

“Adam, I’m cured. When I first became a paladin, I was worried about my illness, I had Coran, the Altean advisor, run a check on me to see how far my disease had processed, but…he found nothing. It’s like I didn’t even have it,” Adam’s eyes started to water; Shiro was cured, he could…Adam wanted him home, wanted to hold him, cry with him and kiss him. Adam could actually live the rest of his life with the man he loved.

“I know it may be a while before I’m home, but I can’t wait until this is over and I can be with you again. No more space, just me and you,” Adam had to pause the video to wipe the tears from his eyes. He brought his left hand up to his lips and kissed the ring still adorning his ring finger. Adam took a couple calming breaths before pressing play again.

“I don’t know how long it’ll take for me to come home, but I promise I will come back. I love you, Adam,” The video ended, and Adam’s tears started again.

XXXX

When Sam woke up at 7 in the morning to get ready for his next Garrison meeting, Adam was already awake and sipping at a coffee cup. His eyes were slightly puffy and red-rimmed, but the smile he sent Sam was bright.

“Good morning Sam. Ready to convince the other Garrisons to work together and save the world?” Sam let out a sigh before he nodded. He made his way over to the coffee pot, smiling at the sticky note attached to it, telling Shiro to not touch it and that Keith was only allowed one cup. The coffee mug that Adam handed Sam had a cartoon dog on it sitting in the middle of a fiery room, claiming that ‘This is fine’, and Sam let out another laugh because that’s how he felt at the moment.

Adam and Sam stood in silence drinking their coffees and soon, Colleen joined them. She kissed her husband on the cheek, before getting her own coffee mug and coffee.

“Adam, sweetie, did you make the grocery list?” Adam nodded as he swallowed some of his drink. He slid a small notepad across the island top, before pulling his wallet out of his back pocket and handing her his credit card. She tried to argue, but Adam wasn’t hearing it, and only accepted a kiss on the cheek as payment. Colleen pulled the boy into a hug, making Sam smile at their interaction. It was good that Colleen had support during the time he was missing.

After Colleen pulled away and made her way out of the kitchen, Adam looked at the time. Sam looked over as well, seeing that it was almost 7:30. Time to leave.

XXXX

Overall, the meeting went well; all the Garrisons agreed to Sam’s plan to a solar-powered particle barrier, and a deep space communicator. The Garrison that Sam was currently at would work on the communicator and a small part of the barrier. After the meeting concluded, Sam walked into a small unoccupied office to have a minor celebration; Adam only shook his head at him when Sam walked out.

XXXX

A couple days after Sam came back to Earth, Adam told him that the families of the other missing Garrison students were going to be over for dinner. Later that evening, he met Hunk and Lance’s families.

Elijah Garrett, his wife Keone, and their girlfriend Alyssa introduced him to Hunk’s little siblings, Natia and Joseph. They appeared slightly confused when Sam handed over the tiny flash-drive, but Adam quickly explained and showed them to the office so they could watch Hunk’s video message.

While waiting for the Garretts to come out of the office, the Alvarez family showed up with enough food to feed the entire household. Sam recognized Veronica from the Garrison’s analyst division, and she was the only one to not seem surprised by his appearance. When the Garretts came out of Adam’s office slightly teary-eyed but elated, the Alvarezes were quick to make sure they were okay, showing Sam how much these families came to completely care for each other.

Sam took a couple steps closer to the family, and watched as Lance’s father turned to him with a questioning look, and Sam’s only answer was a flash-drive with Lance’s name on it.

XXXX

Exactly to Sam’s calculations, the communicator took a month to complete, and he was going to be the first one to try to send a message. He made sure he had Colleen with him when he set the coordinates for the rebel base that Matt was at last.

“Hello? This is Samuel Holt of the Voltron Coalition, is operative Matt Holt there to speak?” Sam pulled Colleen a little closer, as the person on the other end told Sam to wait a moment. Soon, a familiar voice was heard and Colleen began to get misty-eyed once more.

“Dad, is that you? Why is Katie’s nickname Pidge?” Colleen gave her husband a questioning look, but he shook her off.

“She used to chase pigeons when she was small, and for some reason, she wanted to be one. Her original nickname was Pidgeon but over time, it downgraded to Pidge. What was the last meal we had before we left for Kerberos?”

“Meatloaf, potatoes and those dang peas that you love,” Colleen and Sam both laughed at the answer.

“Matty, is that you?”

“Mom?”

“Hi sweetie,”

“How…how are you?”

“Better now that I know you, your father and Katie are alright,”

“About Katie…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't want to go into more detail, but Earth was quick to understand the need for the particle barrier and their protection against the war. Some aliens, such as Ryner and Shay, have made visits to Earth to help out where they can, even some rebels, like Matt, made Earth their homebase because of how far away it was from the war.
> 
> The MFE pilots will be introduced later, and their jets are in the works after the particle barrier was completed.
> 
> Some Galra had tried to come and attack Earth but since there were fighters ready and the barrier, Earth was quickly protected. So the freaking Galra didn't take over Earth!!
> 
> Next chapter, I'm going to work on the paladins bonding some more. Allura and Lance, Lance and Keith, Keith and Hunk and others but those mainly.
> 
> Anyway, I think that's all I wanna say. Love y'all!!!
> 
> talk to me on tumblr: [chirithy](http://chirithy.tumblr.com/)  
> watch me ramble on twitter: [sylleblossum](https://twitter.com/sylleblossum/)


	8. Chapter 8

The members of Voltron let the Narti crew handle the journey to Earth, but Axca promised that it wouldn’t take longer than a few quintants, three at most. A few vargas later, after contacting Earth, Krolia and Kolivan decided to make their departure, and though Keith was still a bit angry with his mother, he still went to see her off. Krolia looked a bit relieved to see him there, and a bit surprised when Acxa showed up a tick later. Krolia looked back at Kolivan for a moment, and he gave a curt nod before heading for the ship Acxa gave them.

Krolia motioned for her children to follow her a little away from the group, looking just as awkward as Keith felt. She looked back and forth between Acxa and Keith, a sad expression upon her face, before she sighed.

“I’m sorry,” Acxa and Keith glanced at each other before looking back at Krolia to continue.

“The mission is important, but you both are my children and you’re important to me. Keith, getting to know you those two years in the time rift was more than I could have ever hoped for. You’ve been through so much, and I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there for you, but I am so proud of the young man in front of me,” Krolia gave him a shaky smile, and Keith could see her eyes getting glassy with tears, his own eyes misting up slightly at her speaking. Krolia took a step forward and pulled him into a hug, rubbing the back of his head; Keith let himself hug her back. She took a step back after a few moments, moving her hand to his cheek, just looking at him.

Soon, she turned to Acxa, who was trying to look unaffected, but then, Krolia called Acxa her childhood nickname, a name she hadn’t heard since her papa had passed.

“Little Gem, my little one, you deserved so much better than what I put you through. Your father, he was a good man, I did love him, I truly did, and I’m so sorry for hurting him the way I did, and I know I can never make up for that,” Krolia took a step closer to Acxa, caressing her cheek, and then moving some of the hair out of Acxa’s eyes.

“You’ve grown up into such a beautiful, intelligent, strong woman and I really don’t know enough words to tell you how truly proud I am of you and of all you’ve accomplished. I know I’ve hurt you, both of you, because I left, but maybe one day, I can make it up to you,” Krolia looked her children, waiting for an answer. Keith glanced at his sister for a moment, before looking over at Shiro, who was talking to Lance across the room, and then back at Krolia.

“We’ll probably be on Earth for a little bit, if you want, you could meet the rest of my family, and maybe we could pay respects to pop’s grave,” Keith gave her a feeble smile; he could give her another chance, it’s what Shiro would have done. Krolia returned the smile.

“Krolia,” Kolivan’s voice echoed through the ship bay, and made everyone turn towards him. Krolia sighed, before turning back to her children and pulling them into a swift, tight hug.

“Stay safe,” Acxa whispered to their mother, as she pulled away from them. Krolia gave them a remorseful smile.

“You as well,”

XXXX

Lance had found an empty observation room with a gorgeous view of the space surrounding them, and since everyone had gone off on their own, leaving him, he chose to sit by himself in the large room. He wrapped his coat tightly around himself, and leaned against the largest window across from the entryway. No matter how many times he’s seen it, Lance was always in awe of the beauty of space around him. Every sector had its differences, and Lance loved to find out about each one. The one that they were currently in was a mix of blue and purple with a small scattering of stars; the closer star was light pink color. Lance dug his phone out of his hoodie pocket to take a picture; he took one everywhere he went so he could one day show his family. Lance just couldn’t believe how close that reality was coming; he couldn’t wait to see his family again. He knew it would take a lifetime for him to let go of his mother, he missed her so much.

Lance was going through the photos of his phone, remembering where he took each one. Then, there was a voice saying his name that made him look up. He found Allura standing in the doorway, looking slightly nervous.

“Oh hey Allura,” Lance gave her an easy smile to calm her, but he was still nervous to be around her. Even though what Shiro said had helped Lance put his feelings into view, he still did have feelings for her. His heart still fluttered at the sight of her smile she returned to him, as she walked over towards him.

“Lance, I’ve been wanting to speak to you,” He raised an eyebrow at her, and watched as Allura sat on the window ledge with him. She clasped her hands, and looked at them.

“What about?” He heard a small squeak and saw one of Allura’s mice, Chulatt, was peeking at him from the collar of her borrowed jacket. Lance narrowed his eyes at the mouse, having a slight feeling of what Allura might want to talk about.

“The mice told me something, even though it was something you told them in privacy, and I wanted to address it,” Allura turned her head and looked Lance in the eye, her face slightly flushed.

“Lance, about your feelings towards me…” Lance held up a hand to stop her, which she did. He looked away from her, and back towards the galaxy behind them. He wished he had more time before he had this conversation with Allura, and he closed his eyes and sighed. Lance released a slow sigh, opening his eyes and finally looking at Allura, after taking a moment to compose himself.

“Allura, yes, I have feelings for you, but…” Lance didn’t really know what he wanted to say; it hadn’t been very long since he began to rethink his feelings for Allura. Allura leaned forward and took Lance’s hand.

“Lance, I want you to know that I can’t return your feelings. Even though, he betrayed us and hurt me, I do still have some feelings for Lotor,” Allura’s eyes started to tear up, and Lance patted her hand, making her look up at him, where he gave her another easy smile. Allura wiped at her eyes with her other hand, giving him a small smile back.

“You’re one of my best friends, Lance, and I’m afraid that’s all you’ll ever be for me,”

“Allura, that’s okay. I’ve been talking to Shiro, and he’s been helping me rethink my feelings for you,” Lance shrugged his shoulder at Allura’s raised eyebrow.

“I will probably always have feel something towards you, and I know you will probably never return those to me, and you’re one of my best friends too. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll look back on this and laugh,” Lance could practically see it; he and Allura talking over coffee, and joking about the time he once had feelings for her and it didn’t hurt as much anymore, thinking about Allura not returning his feelings. He grinned as he heard Allura let out a soft laugh. Allura leaned against Lance, smiling lightly.

“Thank you, Lance,” Yeah, they would be okay eventually.

XXXX

Keith was sitting alone in the common area, just sketching in his sketchbook. Kosmo was currently his model, though the wolf was currently snoring away. He knew the rest of his team was somewhere roaming around the ship, although Shiro was in one of the rooms behind him, resting more finally. Keith let a sigh, stopping his sketch, and leaned back into the couch cushion. He had just been put through an emotional wringer over the past couple days, and he just felt exhausted from everything.

Keith lifted his head back up, as the door opened up and revealed Hunk. Hunk blinked in surprise at the sight of Keith, as if he wasn’t expecting the other male, but he quickly gave Keith a warm smile, which was returned. Hunk made his way over to one of the chairs and sat across from Keith. In Keith’s eyes, Hunk looked exhausted, as he watched the other boy yawned and rub at his eyes; he had bags under his eyes, oil-like smudges on parts of his face and arms, and his hair was wild and messy with his headband askew. Keith closed his sketchbook, setting it aside, and leaned forward to talk to Hunk.

“You okay?” Hunk’s head shot up quickly, looking back at Keith. Keith tried to have a caring expression on his face, but with his luck, it probably looked like his usual neutral face that Shiro took to calling ‘his resting bitch’ face. When Shiro told him about this, Adam had pretended to not see Keith throwing a bunch of pillows at his brother, all the while cussing at him. But, Keith did believe he was doing better with expressing his emotions since his adventure in the time rift and coming back to Voltron. Hunk sent him a hesitant but appreciative look, before releasing a sigh.

“I’m anxious,” Keith moved in his seat to fully look at Hunk and give him his full attention, as he waited for him to continue.

“We’ve been gone from Earth for so long, by Pidge’s calculations, including the years we’ve been missing, we’ve been gone for four years. I should be 21 by now,” Hunk looked down at his hands, he didn’t feel like he was over twenty, he didn’t really feel any different from that nervous 17 year old boy that got shot into space and began fighting an intergalactic war.

“My little sister, Natia, was 7 when we came out here. What if she doesn’t remember me? What if she thinks I forgot about her or worse that I didn’t care about her? My little brother, Joseph, was 10, he should be a teenager now. What if he’s mad at me for disappearing? I told him I was going to stay safe on the ground, but I didn’t,” Keith could see that Hunk’s eyes were starting to get glassy with tears, and he was shaking slightly. Keith was starting to panic internally, but keep his composure.

“What if something happened to my family while I was gone? I have so many what-ifs going through my head and I don’t know what to do. It seems so silly, but I used to daydream about finally coming home, but here I am, on my way home, and I’m plagued by fears that something could have happened and I wasn’t there for them,” Keith leaned forward out of his seat and gripped Hunk’s hands to make the other boy unclench them before he could hurt himself, despite the gloves he wore. Hunk looked up and saw Keith looking at him with a soft expression, almost a fondness coming from him.

“Look, Hunk, I never told you this, but of all the paladins, you’re the one that reminds me that it’s okay to be scared. When I was away with the Blade, I got caught in an explosion, got pushed out my trajectory and was almost left behind. I could have died, I almost let my fear take over me, but I kept going and got back to my ship with a tic remaining. I kept going, and that’s what you always do. It’s no secret that you’ve been the most scared, but you’ve never backed down. To be brave is to go on in spite of fear, and that’s who you are, Hunk. You’re allowed to be scared, Hunk. I’ve been scared before too, but I keep going because you inspire me to, and I know you will too,” Keith looked up from Hunk’s and his hands to find Hunk crying, making him panic a little more, but then Hunk smiled, before pulling Keith forward into a hug. Keith smiled as well, and rubbed Hunk’s back in comfort.

“Another thing I admire about you is that you always try the bright things. I know you can’t think of any right now, so I will. I think your family knows that you’re alive, that you’re being as safe as you can be fighting a war, and all they’ll care about when you get back is that you’re home finally. If they’re anything like you, Hunk, your family will power through anything,” Keith could feel Hunk trembling slightly against him, and he tightened his hug around the larger boy as he cried more.

XXXX

Keith made Hunk go take a nap after his breakdown with the promise that he’d wake Hunk by dinner time; he had to wake Shiro by then anyhow. Keith went back to drawing in his sketchbook to pass the time, and he didn’t really notice how much time had passed until Lance came walking into the common area.

“Hey Keith!” Keith’s head shot up quickly to look up at Lance, who simply just waved his hand. Keith watched Lance drop down into the chair Hunk was previously occupying. Kosmo looked up at the noise and then started wagging their tail at the sight of Lance. Upon noticing Keith’s sketchbook in his hand, Lance leaned forward as much as he could without falling off the chair to get a glance of what was inside. Keith narrowed his eyes slightly, closing his sketchbook. Keith was kind of private about his sketchbook, but he didn’t mind if people asked, sometimes he’d let people see. Lance glanced between the book and Keith’s face, before asking,

“May I see?” Keith’s slightly annoyed face changed to a relieved look, before he nodded. He leaned forward and handed Lance the sketchbook.

The first thing Lance saw was the photo of Shiro, Adam and Keith smiling up at him. Keith looked younger, around the time from when they started the Garrison, and was wearing a red and white hoodie and a tentative smile. Behind Keith, Adam was leaning into Shiro’s side with Shiro’s arm around his waist; both of them had a hand on Keith’s shoulders. Just the sight of the picture made Lance smile before he turned the page. The first couple of pages were sketches of what seemed like profiles, some looking like Adam and some of Shiro. But, the more Lance turned the pages, he found rock formations, Keith’s shack and speeder, copies of the Blue Lion cave drawings and other stuff that reminded Lance of Earth right before they left. After that was a beautiful sketch of the Castle of Lions from afar, the bridge leading up to the Castle told Lance that it was based in Arus. Next was of Red, despite it not being colored in, and then the rest of the lions were over the next couple pages.

More people began to show up after the lions. The next two pages held sketches of Shiro doing various things; smiling, training, one of him napping, one of him concentrating with his arms crossed. As Lance flipped through more pages, he had seen Keith had drawn everyone in a similar way, doing various things: Pidge surrounded by her tech, Hunk with a huge smile on his face, Allura braiding part of her hair with the mice on her shoulder, Coran twirling his moustache, and then, there was the sketches of Lance.

Lance felt his face warm up at the charcoal gray versions of himself. One sketch took up most of a page, and it was simply of him with his hands in his jacket pockets, looking to the side and smiling at something. There was another of him in his paladin armor looking slightly roughed up but smiling softly. Keith’s sketches of Lance were always of him smiling, and when he looked up at Keith, he found the other boy looking away from, his face slightly red.

A part of Lance wanted to tease Keith, but the fluttering of Lance’s heart made him pause, because Keith was actually kind of cute and then Shiro’s words from the other day flashed through his head. Someone who balanced him, two sides of the same coin, could Keith be? Lance made his train of thought derail quickly, he could think about this later, when he wasn’t around Keith. He closed the sketchbook and handed it back to its owner.

“So the incident with Bob, if you had drawn like that, we’d probably would have had more points,” Keith frowned, Lance could swear it was practically a pout.

“I couldn’t do all those sketches in the short amount of time I was given. Bob was just a dick,” Lance chuckled at Keith’s statement, he could agree that Bob was definitely a dick. Lance closed the sketchbook and handed it back to Keith. He watched as Keith ran a hand over the material of the book. They sat in comfortable silence for a bit.

Lance had had a question stuck in his head ever since Keith chose to left; this was the opportune time to ask. Maybe if he asked, this hollow feeling in his chest, that he’s had since Keith left, would fade away. Lance looked back over at Keith, who was simply just petting Kosmo’s fur.

“Keith, why did you leave?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **PLEASE READ ME**  
>  I'm so so sorry for the month delay in this chapter. The day I put up the last chapter, I wound up going to the hospital and had to have emergency surgery. These past couple weeks I've been recovering, and trying to catch up on schoolwork. I also had no motivation to write, but I'm doing better now.
> 
> I'll try to have the next chapter up soon.
> 
> talk to me on tumblr: [chirithy](http://chirithy.tumblr.com/)  
> watch me ramble on twitter: [sylleblossum](https://twitter.com/sylleblossum/)


	9. Chapter 9

Hello my beloved readers

It is with a heavy heart that I write this message, but I can’t do this anymore. I’ve had no inspiration to write for my Voltron fics anymore. I’ve just been so disappointed with how the fans have been treated and how the Voltron story is going, and I just couldn’t bring myself to write for these characters anymore. Seriously, when I saw the trailer for the final trailer, the only thing I felt was relief because it would be over soon. I felt horrible over that.

I don’t even know where I was going to go with this story anymore, besides having Adam being alive and Lance being treated like an actual character. I do wish I could have finished this story, but the pressure of my school semester just took away my inspiration to write and whenever I try to write more, I stare at a blank page because I just couldn’t write for Voltron anymore.

I hope you all can understand. If you wish to yell at me, I will accept that. But I hope, that maybe, as I write in the future, you will continue to support me. I love all of you, and thank for being a part of this journey.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to try to do all of the episodes, and I hope I do ok. I'm going to keep some things the same, but still change a bunch of things. Adam dead in canon? No way in hell in this fic. Galra taking over Earth? Nope, Earth is a hell of a planet and can fight back worse than one of those drunk soccer moms. Also, science.
> 
> Yell at me in the comment about things, you would like to see changed as well, and I'll try to add. I'm already going to work on Lance's treatment (motherfucker, he ain't the dumb one and he's important).
> 
> tumblr: [chirithy](http://chirithy.tumblr.com/)  
> twitter: [sylleblossum](https://twitter.com/sylleblossum/)


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